Public-health advocates on Wednesday called on state senators to approve a steep new fee on soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages to raise money to combat obesity, but beverage, restaurant and retail interests argued that singling out soda is unfair.
The Abercrombie administration has proposed a fee of 1 cent per ounce — or $1.28 a gallon — on distributors that would be passed along to retailers and consumers. The administration estimates that the fee would reduce consumption by 8 to 10 percent and generate about $37 million a year for childhood obesity prevention and oral health programs.
Senators squashed a soda tax proposed by Gov. Neil Abercrombie two years ago, but Sen. Josh Green (D, Naalehu-Kailua-Kona), an emergency room doctor and the chairman of the Senate Health Committee, said he would recommend that his committee advance Senate Bill 1085 in a vote scheduled for Monday.
Obesity-related medical costs in Hawaii are more than $450 million a year, and a disturbing trend toward obesity among young people — about 1 in 3 children entering kindergarten are overweight — have put a soda fee back on the legislative agenda. But public-health advocates acknowledge that obesity is caused by a combination of diet and lack of exercise.
Dr. May Okihiro, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Hawaii at Manoa medical school and a pediatrician at the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center, described treating an 8-year-old girl who weighed 120 pounds and had a rash on her neck that was a sign of insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes. The girl’s grand- mother explained that she had been buying 10 cartons of fruit punch for the family every week because she thought it was a healthy choice.
Okihiro also described a 17-year-old boy who gained 60 pounds in 18 months and was on the border of developing diabetes, partly because of drinking five to six cans of soda a day.
"We understand that a sugar-sweetened beverage fee won’t be the cure-all, but it will make all of us think twice about buying sugary beverages, and I think begin a comprehensive strategy to begin to address the problem," she said.
Public-health advocates hope that higher taxes on soda and sugar-sweetened beverages could have a similar effect as onerous taxes on tobacco, which, along with stern health warnings and smoking bans in public places, led to a decrease in smoking over the past generation.
Dr. Virginia Pressler, executive vice president for Hawaii Pacific Health and the vice chairwoman of a childhood obesity prevention task force that recommended a soda fee to the Legislature, said a soda fee is "not a slam on the beverage industry," which has promoted lower-calorie options for consumers.
"I drink unsweetened tea and other things like that," she said. "We all drink bottled water, so there’s lots of other opportunities besides sugar-sweetened beverages, which are killing our kids."
Several business and labor groups, including the Hawaii Restaurant Association, the Hawaii Food Industry Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, oppose a soda fee because of the potential loss of revenue and jobs if consumption declines.
Gary Slovin, a lobbyist who represents the American Beverage Association, said the beverage industry nationally has voluntarily taken steps to help reduce consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages by young people, such as supporting the removal of sugary beverages from schools.
Slovin said obesity is caused by many factors and questioned whether lawmakers would tax the Internet or video games because of the distraction from exercise or target people who eat too much macaroni salad.
Roger Morey, the executive director of the Hawaii Restaurant Association, mocked the stigma attached to soda: "My name is Roger and I drink sugary beverages," he told senators. He called the Abercrombie administration’s soda fee "usurious if not unconscionable" and claimed that it would send the wrong message that people can prevent obesity simply by not drinking soda.
"If you want to fight obesity, it shouldn’t start at the grocery store or the restaurant, it should start at home with the parents and the schools that educate their children on proper diet, proper exercise. And only if you start treating the cause, not the effect, will you become successful in fighting obesity in Hawaii," he said.
Green, who has declared a "war on obesity," had recommended two years ago that a soda tax be rejected. This year, along with a soda fee, he is backing legislation that would require public schools to offer healthier beverages such as milk and juice, ban foods with trans fats at schools, and provide tax exemptions on the purchase of fresh fruits and vegetables.
