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Title: Why We Need An Obesity Tax
Source:
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URL Source: http://www.causecast.org/news_items/7690-why-we-need-an-obesity-tax
Published: Dec 22, 2008
Author: Gov. David Paterson
Post Date: 2008-12-22 13:27:06 by Jethro Tull
Keywords: None
Views: 279
Comments: 24
Editor’s note: David Paterson, a Democrat, is governor of New York. Like many New Yorkers, I remember a time when nearly everyone smoked. In 1950, Collier’s reported that more than three-quarters of adult men smoked. This epidemic had a devastating and long-lasting impact on public health. Today, we find ourselves in the midst of a new public health epidemic: childhood obesity. What smoking was to my parents’ generation, obesity is to my children’s generation. Nearly one out of every four New Yorkers under the age of 18 is obese. In many high-poverty areas, the rate is closer to one out of three. That is why, in the state budget I presented last Tuesday, I proposed a tax on sugared beverages like soda. Research has demonstrated that soft-drink consumption is one of the main drivers of childhood obesity. For example, a study by Harvard researchers found that each additional 12-ounce soft drink consumed per day increases the risk of a child becoming obese by 60 percent. For adults, the association is similar. If we are to succeed in reducing childhood obesity, we must reduce consumption of sugared beverages. That is the purpose of our proposed tax. We estimate that an 18 percent tax will reduce consumption by five percent. Our tax would apply only to sugared drinks — including fruit drinks that are less than 70 percent juice — that are nondiet. The $404 million this tax would raise next year will go toward funding public health programs, including obesity prevention programs, across New York state. The surgeon general estimates that obesity was associated with 112,000 deaths in the United States every year. Here in New York state, we spend almost $6.1 billion on health care related to adult obesity — the second-highest level of spending in the nation. Last year, legitimate concerns about links between consumption of fast food and the prevalence of heart disease prompted New York City to ban the use of trans fats in restaurant food. No one can deny the urgency of reducing the rate of obesity, including childhood obesity. Obesity causes serious health problems like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. It puts children at much greater risk for life-threatening conditions such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. We must never stigmatize children who are overweight or obese. Yet, for the sake of our children’s health, we have an obligation to address this crisis. I believe we can ultimately curb the obesity epidemic the same way we curbed smoking: through smart public policy. In recent decades, anti-smoking campaigns have raised awareness. Smoking bans have been enacted and enforced. And, perhaps most importantly, we have raised the price of cigarettes. In June, New York state raised the state cigarette tax an additional $1.25. According to the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, this increase alone will prevent more than 243,000 kids from smoking, save more than 37,000 lives and produce more than $5 billion in health care savings. These taxes may be unpopular, but their benefits are undeniable. Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that, for the first time in generations, fewer than 20 percent of Americans smoked. Lung cancer rates have finally begun to decline. As a result, we are all healthier. Just as the cigarette tax has helped reduce the number of smokers and smoking-related deaths, a tax on highly caloric, non-nutritional beverages can help reduce the prevalence of obesity. To address the obesity crisis, we need more than just a surcharge on soda. We need to take junk food out of our schools. We need to encourage our children to exercise more. And we need to increase the availability of healthy food in underserved communities. But to make serious progress in this effort, we need to reduce the consumption of high-calorie drinks like nondiet soda among children and adults. I understand that New Yorkers may not like paying a surcharge for their favorite drinks. But surely it’s a small price to pay for our children’s health. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of David Paterson. Poster Comment: I think we need to bring back the poll tax.
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#1. To: Jethro Tull (#0)
If you want the government's cradle to grave care, you have to give up a few things !
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
First they came for the fat folk....
Smoke Globalists - you'll feel great !!
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
Next they'll come for Santa Kitty
I say we tax blind asshole governors with scrawny beards.
Click for Privacy and Preparedness files Nehemiah 4:14 And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
Santa Kitty is a trained killer :P
bastards
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
Get rid of the high-fructose corn syrup..
And,excito-toxins like MSG.
Our politicans sure are concerned for our health. They have let the food producers lace our food with all kinds of poisons called preservatives and yet they want to send a phoney signal that they are concerned about our health. A good start would be to outlaw any additives to our food products. That would be the best remedy for obesity. Then they should get the kids up off their asses and away from computers and tv, mix in a little physical work each day and I bet the problem would go away.
Along with it's even more evil buddy "Diet Pop".
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
fixed
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
If they REALLY wanted to do something about obesity in this country, they'd ban MSG and all variants of MSG from all processed foods. As it is, it is not even possible to avoid it because they have literally dozens of names for it. "Partially hydrogenated vegetable protein", "Natural flavoring", "Vegetable protein extract", "Malt extract maltodextrin", "Glutamate", "Hydrolyzed vegetable protein", it just goes on and on. MSG is also naturally present in things like soy sauce. In other words it's practically impossible to avoid consuming MSG in virtually any processed food sold in America today. So, what does MSG do? Oh, not much. It just makes people overeat, it's like adding an addictive drug to food that makes people want to eat more and more. It's injected into lab rats to make them grossly obese so that they can then be used in obesity studies. It also has a long list of possible side effects. With the current ways that the legal system is manipulated by corporate interests, and the influence lobbyists have over lawmakers in Washington D.C. there is pretty much no hope of this being changed anytime soon. There's a reason Americans are so seriously overweight, why people who come here from other countries are astonished at how fat most Americans are. It's because our food supply has been altered in a way to make Americans overeat. Good for profits for the food industry, but very very bad for everyone else. Then again, when has human life ever had precedence over profits in America? If MSG were to be flat out banned from all foods, all the way down to simply banning soy sauce, with the clearly stated objective of reducing annual consumption of MSG from nearly two pounds a year to less than two grams a year, you'd see obesity rates in America plummet.
#2. To: Rotara (#1)
#3. To: Jethro Tull (#2)
#4. To: Jethro Tull (#2)
#5. To: Jethro Tull, all (#0)
#6. To: PSUSA (#5)
2nd !
#7. To: Itisa1mosttoolate (#4)
#8. To: Itisa1mosttoolate, Jethro Tull (#4)
Next they'll come for Santa Kitty
#9. To: Jethro Tull (#0)
Today, we find ourselves in the midst of a new public health epidemic: childhood obesity.
#10. To: Lady X (#9)
Get rid of the high-fructose corn syrup..
#11. To: Jethro Tull (#2)
The French resistance had a motto; two Nazis for each Frenchman. Should the SHTF, do what you have to do, and don't worry about orders from headquarters.
#12. To: Lady X (#9)
Get rid of the high-fructose corn syrup..
#13. To: LACUMO (#11)
A good start would be to
outlaw any additives to our food products slaughter several thousand elite Globalists in AmeriKa.
#14. To: Jethro Tull (#0)
 | Gold and silver are REAL money, paper is but a promise. |
#15. To: Jethro Tull (#2)
Correct. All taxes are evil. The demoRAT is nothing more than a frigging brownshirt.
First they came for the fat folk....
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition Countries Without a Draft circa 2001 (You'll need this soon if you have kids) RUN SILENT, RUN DEEP 
"Corporation: An entity created for the legal protection of its human parasites, whose sole purpose is profit and self-perpetuation." ~~ IndieTx
#16. To: Elliott Jackalope, Atkins baby! (#14)
Let me recommend Atkins to anyone interested in losing weight. Bacon & eggs, cheeseburgers, steak, lobster, shrimp, Italian sausage, just look at the carb count and eat anything that has zero or close to zero. Drink lots of water and kick in some walking come Spring. It's the easiest, safest diet I ever followed. And no, I don't miss my doughnuts :)
#17. To: Jethro Tull (#0)
Fuck That. Fat Lazy Spoilt Fucks who've gotten way too much in their pampered little lives, surrounded by parents and whatnot with no brains who let them munch and watch TV, much like little piggies being fattened. DUMB FAT FUCKS. Take a damn walk. Dance, little fatties, dance.
We must never stigmatize children who are overweight or obese
"This is a farewell kiss, you bitch!" shouted Mr Zaidi. "This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq."
#18. To: ALL (#0)
FUCK-YOU PATERSON!
#19. To: All (#18) (Edited)
WHAT HE SAID
#20. To: Lady X (#9)
I second that. I hate that $#it with a blinding passion. But you know what? There still are places in the world that sell real Cokes made with actual sugar! And they are gooooooood, just like I remember them from my childhood (and that has been more than a couple of weeks, ahaha).
Get rid of the high-fructose corn syrup..
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.
Lord Acton
#21. To: James Deffenbach (#20)
Yes I prefer cane sugar also. Corn syrup is found in almost everything. You've got to read the labels..
#22. To: Elliott Jackalope (#14)
And still life expectancy continues to grow. What does that tell you. I bet your speechless because you haven't a clue.
In other words it's practically impossible to avoid consuming MSG in virtually any processed food sold in America today.
#23. To: Jethro Tull (#0)
No, what we need is a busybody tax. 100% tax on anyone who can't mind their own fucking business.
We Need An Obesity Tax
"I'd like to live just long enough to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike as a warning to the next ten generations that some favors come with too high a price." Vir Cotto, Babylon 5
#24. To: Lady X (#21)
Corn syrup is found in almost everything. You've got to read the labels.. Corn syrup is ok in some things but not in everything. You can make as good a pecan pie as anyone ever had using Karo corn syrup. But you are right about it being in everything you buy, or just about. Even my favorite brand of bbq sauce has it listed first thing on the label.
Yes I prefer cane sugar also.
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.
Lord Acton
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