Thailand urged to raise taxes on sweetened beverages ,junk food

BANGKOK, February 11 (TNA) - Thai authorities have been urged to raise taxes on sweetened beverages and junk food to reduce obesity among citizens, citing Mexico's successful move on the policy as a good example. Barry Popkin, a professor of nutrition at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the United States, who is also director of the university's Interdisciplinary Center for Obesity, made the call at a meeting on higher taxation on sweetened beverages held in Bangkok on Tuesday. Professor Popkin said that worldwide obesity recently resulted from excessive nutrition, instead of malnutrition, and people in lower and middle-income countries were found to have gained 8-10 kilograms of their extra weight over the past 10-18 years because they lacked physical activities and consumed more high-energy food. Professor Popkin pointed out that in the United States, a 10 per cent increase in the prices of carbonated drinks has reduced people's consumption by 8.1 per cent, while in the middle and lower-income country, like Mexico, sweetened beverages are subject to a 10 per cent tax and junk food to an 8 per cent tax, with the collected taxes used to sponsor school meals. According to the US professor, rich countries widely impose taxes to control the consumption of food and beverages and to prevent obesity, while lower and middle-income countries now pay more attention to such measures. Mexico has raised taxes on junk food and sweetened beverages because people in the country considerably consume carbonated drinks and the number of fat people has soared. Professor Popkin confirmed that such measures have reduced obesity and have not affected employment. According to a Thai dentist, Weerasak Buddhasri, an academic of the Sweet Enough Network, the consumption of sugar among Thai people rose from 19.3 teaspoons per day in 1997 to 23.1 teaspoons per day in 2010 and their indirect sugar consumption increased from 28.9 per cent in 1997 to 45.6 per cent in 2010. The Thai dentist cautioned that beverages which contain much sugar have serious health impacts, calling for the Thai Ministry of Finance's Excise Department to, thus, base its tax on sugar quantity. The Thai dentist noted research projects have found that carbonated drinks in Thailand contain considerable calories, sugar and sodium but they are priced lower than those in Japan and Singapore, suggesting, therefore, that price-related measures should cause business operators to change their policy and the merit is that Thai people will then have fewer health problems.(TNA)