Californians gear up to battle big soda

An approved tax would mean a major defeat for the soda industry, which has spent millions to crush the effort across America. Photo / AFP

Voters in San Francisco, the first US city to ban single-use plastic shopping bags, and Berkeley, the first to ban Styrofoam, will decide next month whether to tax sodas and other sugary drinks to reduce ailments including obesity and diabetes.

The vote is the latest effort by health advocates to curb soda intake, two years after a ban on oversized sodas in New York was tied up in courts by the beverage industry and later overturned.

"We recognise that it's going to be Berkeley versus big soda, but we're ready for that battle," Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates said in a telephone interview. "It's important because it really does send a message that people need to be concerned about the amount of sugar that they are putting into their body."

California, the most populous US state, has been first to adopt policies later embraced by other states, including clean-air standards, legalisation of medical marijuana and paid family leave. Previous efforts to tax soda have failed in the California cities of Richmond and El Monte, while Chicago has a levy of 3 per cent.

The American Beverage Association, a Washington-based trade group representing Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, has poured $10.6 million into television advertising and other efforts to sway voters in the two cities, arguing that the proposals would increase grocery costs and diminish consumer choices. Supporters say it's important to take a stand against sugar's health impacts, including obesity and diabetes.

'Discriminatory attacks'

"Part of our responsibility is to defend our industry from discriminatory attacks and proposals like a soda tax," said Christopher Gindlesperger, a spokesman for the beverage association. "A soda tax is an impediment to doing business and is an unwarranted attack on our products."

Berkeley's tax would add 12 cents to the cost of a 12-ounce can of soda, while San Francisco's would add 24 cents.

Pepsi spokesman Jay Cooney declined to comment, referring questions to the beverage group. Coca-Cola spokeswoman Michele McKillip also declined, deferring to the campaigns opposing the two measures.

Then-New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2012 proposed a 16-ounce limit on the size of soft drinks sold in restaurants and movie theatres. His plan was approved by the city's board of health before being challenged in court by the beverage industry, prompting a judge to block it in 2013.

New York's Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, in June rejected the ban, saying the city's health board lacked the authority to impose it and the power should be reserved for legislative bodies including the City Council.

Campaign finance

Bloomberg, founder and majority owner of

Bloomberg News

parent Bloomberg LP, has given $85,000 to support the Berkeley proposal, the largest contribution.

"We saw how much the initiative was being outspent by the soda industry and wanted to help level the playing field," said Howard Wolfson, a senior adviser to Michael Bloomberg. "The mayor has a long history of supporting these kinds of initiatives as a way of reducing diabetes and other health problems."

Others raised total donations in support of the plan to $220,000, according to the city's campaign finance data. The beverage association contributed $1.4 million to fight Berkeley's plan.

In Berkeley, whose city council approved giving free medical marijuana to the poor this year, voters will decide on November 4 whether to collect a 1-cent-per-ounce soda tax, with the revenue going to the city's general fund, which pays for most core operations. It requires a majority vote to pass.

'Healthier lifestyle'

"We are opposed to trying to tax your way into a healthier lifestyle," said Roger Salazar, a spokesman for the campaigns to defeat the two measures. "We have a responsibility to inform the voters that this tax will raise the cost of living for thousands of Bay Area residents who are struggling to get by in an increasingly expensive region."

San Francisco's measure would impose a tax of 2 cents per ounce on sugary drinks to fund health, nutrition and physical education programs. The proposal, which requires a two-thirds vote to pass, could generate as much as $54 million annually, according to the ballot language.

Those seeking to defeat San Francisco's tax have garnered almost $9.2 million, mostly from the American Beverage Association, according to data from the city Ethics Commission.

Pritzker donation

Supporters of the San Francisco measure have collected about $260,000 for the campaign. Among the donors were John Pritzker, the son of the late founder of the Hyatt Hotels chain, and his wife, Lisa, who gave a combined $50,000, according to the data.

Sugary drinks may be linked to about 25,000 deaths a year in the US, according to an American Heart Association study released last year. The drinks lead to weight gain which increases the risk of diabetes, heart disease and some cancers, the study said. In the US, 35 per cent of adults and 17 per cent of children are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Soda companies have been effective at defeating and reversing such taxes, including in Washington state and Maine, Michael Jacobson, executive director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington-based nonprofit consumer group, said in a telephone interview.

'Sell more'

"They don't give a damn about the health of San Francisco residents," Jacobson said. "They want to sell more soda. They know a tax would lead to a price increase that would have an immediate impact on sales."

Carbonated soft-drink volume declined 3 per cent last year, "with the rate of decline worsening," according to data from the Beverage Digest, a trade newsletter, released in March.

Coca-Cola and Pepsi agreed to lower the amount of sugar in their beverages by an average of 5 per cent in France by 2015 and limit advertising aimed at children, France's Agriculture Ministry said this month.

- Bloomberg