Coke in move to avert 'soda tax'

Coca-Cola, the world's largest soft drinks company, says it is "ramping up" efforts to stress the importance of a healthy lifestyle in combating obesity, in response to a growing push by health advocates for a federal tax on sugared drinks and sodas.

A Coke official said the company is about to expand what she called its existing "multi-faceted effort" on nutrition education, including the use of paid advertising to underline the need to balance calories consumed with appropriate exercise. "Clearly the threat of the soft drink tax shows the need to educate consumers about what we were already doing in this area," she said.

The idea of using a "soda tax" that could help fund healthcare reforms has been gradually gathering momentum in Washington. In an interview with Men's Health magazine this month, Barack Obama, US president, said: "I actually think it's an idea that we should be exploring."

A policy report in the New England Journal of Medicine this month by a group of public health experts and policy makers argued that there was a clear scientific base for "linking the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages to the risk of chronic diseases".

The report said there was a "compelling" case for using taxation to recoup public health costs, estimating that a 1 cent per ounce federal tax would raise $14.7bn in its first year.

New York city's health department is running anpublic advertising campaign on the city's subway, warning against excessive consumption of sugared drinks, under the slogan "Are you pouring on the pounds?" New York state's governor also unsuccessfully sought to include a new tax on sugared drinks in this year's state budget.

The American Beverage Association, whose members include Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Dr Pepper Snapple, has launched its own campaign to counter the notion, arguing that it is unreasonable to target the single factor of sugared drink consumption as a cause of America's growing obesity crisis.

In June, the ABA formed a campaign coalition called Americans against Food Taxes which has taken out print advertisements in Washington and New York attacking the soda tax. The coalition includes restaurant and beverage companies, grocery and food manufacturers' associations, and Hispanic and black community groups.

Nineteen US states already impose extra state sales tax on sugared drinks and snacks.

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