N.Y. health dept. slams sugary drinks

ALBANY, N.Y., March 10 (UPI) -- New York's commissioner of health criticized the beverage industry for "ceaseless marketing" in its campaign against a proposed tax on sugary drinks.

Speaking at a symposium on obesity in Albany, N.Y., Richard F. Daines said the tax, included in the executive budget for the 2010-2011 fiscal year, is a battle to reduce obesity. He detailed the efforts of the beverage industry to market cheap soda, especially in low-income and minority communities; manipulate pricing to promote greater consumption; rally opposition to government efforts to reduce consumption of sugary beverages and blame the rise in childhood obesity on parents, while denying any link between obesity and non-diet soda consumption.

"The dramatic underpricing of sugar-sweetened beverages, their widespread availability and the ceaseless marketing of these products constitute a stumbling block to good health and are a clear and present danger to the future of our children," Daines told the conference. "Soda got way too cheap, and since it tastes good, isn't filling and is heavily marketed, we started drinking too much of it."

Numerous experts, including Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have concluded that a tax on sugary beverages is the single most effective measure that can be taken to reverse the obesity epidemic.