Philadelphia’s Soda Sellers Say Tax Has Reduced Sales by as Much as 50%

[rcjordan]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-17/philly-soda-sellers-say-tax-has-reduced-sales-by-as-much-as-50

[ergophobe]

For distributors, declines are higher than forecast because retailers stocked up on pre-tax inventory

[JasonD]

What fantastic news!

[rcjordan]

>retailers stocked up

Yeah, I think it'll knock sales down about 30-40% when supply normalizes.  I was kind of shocked by the $$$-amount Philly added as a tax.

[rcjordan]

Mexico's sugar tax leads to fall in consumption for second year running

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/feb/22/mexico-sugar-tax-lower-consumption-second-year-running

inside:
The UK intends to introduce a levy on sugar-sweetened beverages in 2018, and estimates it could generate as much as £863m a year from retail sales

[rcjordan]

Looks like this might be a bad year for Big Sugar.

Sugar's "tipping point" link to Alzheimer's disease revealed

http://www.bath.ac.uk/news/2017/02/23/sugar-alzheimer%E2%80%99s-disease/

[littleman]

The data coming out on sugar has been pretty damning.  Many politically find it hard to accept a tax to modify social behavior, so I doubt this will happen at a national level anytime soon.  If we could get rid of the subsidy on corn and soy it would make HFCS more expensive which might accomplish the same thing. 

[rcjordan]

>damning

Don't forget 50 Years Ago, Sugar Industry Quietly Paid Scientists To Point Blame At Fat

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/09/13/493739074/50-years-ago-sugar-industry-quietly-paid-scientists-to-point-blame-at-fat

That relates to this thread and the recent one about "When Evidence Says No, but Doctors Say Yes"

[littleman]

Maine asks feds to allow ban on food stamps for candy, soda

[rcjordan]

Pepsi is laying off up to 100 workers in Philadelphia and blaming a 2-month-old soda tax

http://www.businessinsider.com/pepsi-blames-soda-tax-for-layoffs-2017-3

[rcjordan]

Sticker shock over Seattle's new sugary drink tax

http://www.kiro7.com/news/local/sticker-shock-over-seattles-new-sugary-drink-tax/677490924

[Mackin USA]

Seattle < NO COMMENT 

[ergophobe]

I'm reading Robert Lustig's Hacking of the American Mind currently. I'm not far enough into it to know for sure, but I think it's fair to say that Lustig argues that Big Sugar used many of the tactics of Big Tobacco and Big Oil to get the populace addicted to their product which, he argues, should not be classified as food.

[rcjordan]

>tactics

How the Sugar Industry Shifted Blame to Fat

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/13/well/eat/how-the-sugar-industry-shifted-blame-to-fat.html

[rcjordan]

UK: Why Ribena fans have been left with a bad taste in their mouths

Drinks companies had to decide whether to pay the UK government's sugar tax or to reformulate – which explains why our favourite purple drink now has a slightly odd flavour.


https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2018/mar/16/why-ribena-fans-have-been-left-with-a-bad-taste-in-their-mouths