San Francisco isn’t giving up on the battle against Big Soda. Less than a year after the beverage industry spent $10 million to stop a proposed city tax on sugary drinks, the three city lawmakers behind the stymied 2014 Soda Tax Campaign are back at it with new legislation that could make SF the first city to require that ads for sugary beverages include a health warnings like tobacco products do.
“Last fall we heard over and over again from voters – and also the soda industry — that we should be focusing to improve efforts around education of the harmful effects of sodas,” said San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener, who introduced the legislation with supervisors Malia Cohen and Eric Mar. “These health warning labels will give people the information they need to make informed choices about how these sodas are impacting their lives and the lives of people in their community.”
According to Sup. Wiener’s website:
The City’s independent Budget and Legislative Analyst Office has placed the financial impact of sugary drinks at over $50 million costs even when only considering diabetes and obesity. Without action, one in three of today’s children will develop diabetes in their lifetime, and among African American and Latino youth, half will develop diabetes.
In November 2014, voters 56% of the voters in San Francisco voted in favor of two penny per ounce tax on sodas and other sugary beverages distributed in San Francisco. While this broke the 50% threshold required of a general tax, because the 2014 tax dedicated funding to specific health and nutrition programming, it was a special tax, which required a 2/3 majority to pass.
“We are continuing this fight in 2015 with legislation that will make our communities healthier and better informed about the risks posed by Big Soda,” Sup. Mar said.
In addition to the warning labels, the legislation would ban ads on publicly owned property, and prohibit the use of city funds for the purchase of sugary beverages.
SPUR, a nonprofit dedicated to finding solutions to problems facing Bay Area cities, released a report in February addressing food accessibility. The report recommended the city take proactive steps to educate consumers, provide healthier options in all neighborhoods and reduce demand for sugary beverages, a recommendation the supervisors seem to agree with.
Jenn Stanley is a freelance journalist, essayist and independent producer living in Chicago. She has an M.S. from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
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