Campaign Group: Sugary Drinks Duty Would Save London £39m in Healthcare Costs

17 Dec 2014 --- The Children’s Food Campaign has published figures showing that the introduction of a 20 pence per litre duty on sugary drinks would benefit Londoners’ health, as well as save the NHS and public health budgets £39 million over twenty years.

The research, published in association with University of Liverpool academic Brendan Collins and FoodActive, shows that if the UK government introduced a 20 pence per litre sugary drinks duty, then the impact in London over twenty years would be to reduce the cases of diabetes by over 6300; prevent over 1100 cases of cancer; reduce strokes and cases of coronary heart disease by over 4300; improve the quality of life for thousands of residents.

Soft drinks are the largest single source of sugar for children aged 4-10 years and teenagers. The Children’s Food Campaign is calling for the government to introduce a 20p per litre sugary drinks duty to reduce sugar consumption. The Campaign proposes that any revenue generated would be used to set-up a Children’s Health Fund, paying for programmes to improve children’s health and protect the environment they grow up in. The Children’s Food Campaign plans to launch figures for the impact of a sugary drinks duty on the rest of England in early 2015.

Malcolm Clark, co-ordinator of the Children’s Food Campaign, said “A duty on sugary drinks of 20 pence per litre would be the most practical and effective way of tackling a significant source of unnecessary calories and sugar in children and young people’s diets. Mexico, France and Hungary have already introduced a sugary drinks duty, and their citizens are reaping the benefits. In this country, CitizensUK, trade unions and dozens of other organisations all support a duty. Our politicians can no longer hide behind the idea that it wouldn’t be popular, or is an untried policy. We urge London’s mayor and council leaders to include a sugary drinks duty in their review of how London might manage devolved taxation powers, and to make the case to Westminster for the introduction of such a duty nationally.”

Rosie Boycott, Chair of the London Food Board, said: “Sweetened fizzy drinks offer nothing to a city already suffering high levels of obesity-related diseases and dental decay. It would be good for our health and the environment if we drank less of them. In many areas, London has already been leading the charge in the battle to eat well. But we also need national action to ensure firms contribute to the overall health bill and encourage consumers to swap to healthier products. That is why we need a tax on sugary drinks.”

Lord Darzi, Chair of the London Health Commission, in his introduction to the ‘Better Health for London – report of the London Health Commission, stated: “As the Chair of the London Health Commission, as a doctor, and as a father, I give my full and unequivocal support to calls for the introduction of a national sugar tax.”

The British Dietetic Association (BDA) told FoodIngredientsFirst in a statement that it supports a call for a 20% tax duty on sugary drinks as part of an effort to combat the number of obese adults in the UK. The impact would be greatest felt in the under-30s, an Oxford and Reading university study suggests.

In 2013, the BDA also supported a similar call by doctors for a soft drinks tax to reduce sugar intake.

A typical sugary drink can contain six to 15 teaspoons of sugar. One teaspoon of sugar is equivalent to 4g of sugar or 16 calories.

“We support the principle of a tax on sugary drinks as part of a range of measures that will be essential to reduce obesity and improve diet.

“There is a large amount of hidden and added sugar in our food that we are not always aware of, including sugary drinks which have no nutritional value other than providing energy (calories).”

CitizensUK, the alliance of local community organising groups, including North London Citizens, South London Citizens, West London Citizens and TELCO, state in their manifesto for 2015:

“We want our children and grandchildren to have the best chance to live a healthy life. Yet across our member schools we are finding that increasing numbers of children are showing early signs of heart disease, diabetes and poor mental health. We are calling for a Children’s Health Fund to enable a step-change in early intervention. Since there is no spare money in the NHS, we are calling for a duty on sugary drinks, which will itself reduce diabetes and obesity.”

Professor Damien Walmsley, British Dental Association’s scientific adviser said:
"A tax on sugary drinks and food is a no brainer. It's a scandal that one in eight of our three-year olds currently experiences tooth decay. It's time we tackled the problem at source.” 

Not all organisations are as enthusiastic. Gavin Partington, Director General of the British Soft Drinks Association said, “This is a poorly thought out political proposal which will hit the poorest hardest while doing nothing to curb obesity, the causes of which are far more complex than this simplistic approach implies.

“In fact evidence from France shows that while sales of soft drinks initially fell after a tax was introduced in 2012, they have increased since, with sales up 6% in the first four months of this year.

“Policy should be based on evidence, not a tendentious report based on a flawed model.”