Reporters chronicle the death of a sugary drink tax
With a classic tale of powerful established interests, millions and millions of dollars and savvy lobbying, Chicago Tribune reporters Tom Hamburger and Kim Geiger draw our attention to the news vacuum that has formed where debate over a sugary drink tax used to be. From its optimistic beginnings to its eventual slow strangulation, Hamburger and Geiger track the rise and fall of the push to tax sugary drinks in order to discourage poor dietary choices and help fund health care reform.
The reporters do a wonderful job of chronicling every lobbying pressure point pushed by the industry, from faux grassroots to industry alliances to muli-million-dollar advertising campaigns. Here’s a small sample of their overview:
The White House has dismissed the idea, however, even after President Barack Obama had expressed interest last summer. A key congressional committee, though initially seeming receptive, ended up refusing to consider it. Several minority advocacy groups, including some committed to fighting obesity, lined up against the tax after years of receiving financial support from the industry.
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Meanwhile, beverage lobbyists attacked several nutrition scientists, accusing them of bias and distorting available evidence. The beverage industry also financed research that reached conclusions favorable to its position.
(Hat tip to Audrea Huff of the Orlando Sentinel’s Fitness Center blog)
Industry unleashes millions to fight sugary drink tax
Joe Eaton of the Center for Public Integrity and Christine Spolar of the Huffington Post Investigative Fund look into how the threat of a tax on sugary drinks has mobilized major food interests and millions of dollars of lobbying power. Thanks in part to the limited earning potential of a low “sin tax” on sugary drinks and the presence of powerful senators with agriculture interests (Baucus has sugar beets, Grassley has corn) on the Finance Committee, such a tax has not yet been included in the major health reform proposals, though it’s an idea that has been getting some traction on Capitol Hill and in individual states.
Eaton and Spolar lay out the resources and players in the struggle, as it now stands:
During the first nine months of 2009, the industry groups stepped up their lobbying in Congress. They have spent more than $24 million on the issue of a national excise tax on sweetened beverages and on other legislative and regulatory issues, according to an examination of lobbying reports filed with the Senate Office of Public Records. The review shows that 21 companies and organizations reported that they lobbied specifically on the proposed tax on sugar-sweetened beverages — which among other things would include sodas, juice drinks and chocolate milk.
About $5 million of the money was spent on a national advertising campaign aimed at Capitol Hill lawmakers and promoting a newly formed coalition called Americans Against Food Taxes. The group bills itself on its website as a coalition of “responsible individuals, financially-strapped families, [and] small and large businesses” but its 400-plus membership list is dominated by industry heavyweights such as Burger King Corporation, Coca Cola, PepsiCo and Domino’s Pizza.
It may seem a bit silly to tax corn syrup and related sugars when the government is pouring billions in subsidies into corn production, but it appears that corn syrup is such a small part of the cost of manufacturing soda that the effect of the subsidies on the final cost is negligible.
Inside the soda marketing machine
While general terms may vary across the country, the same brand names dominate the soda business worldwide. To shed light on the marketing practices these companies use, AHCJ member Hilary Abramson put together Sugar Water Gets a Facelift: What Marketing Does for Soda, an extensive guide to the advertising of sugary drinks that was prepared for the Strategic Alliance’s Rapid Response Media Network and The California Endowment’s Healthy Eating, Active Communities program.
Doctors protest alliance with Coca-Cola Co.
Meanwhile, the American Academy of Family Physicians signed a six-figure deal with Coca-Cola that would “fund educational materials about soft drinks for the academy’s consumer health and wellness Web site.” While the Academy’s CEO says the soft drink maker will not influence the group’s public health messages, some doctors are highly critical of the deal, with some even quitting the organization over the matter. One doctor has started a Facebook group protesting the deal.
Bariatric patient’s story shows potential savings
Las Vegas Sun reporter Marshall Allen follows one man’s story to look into the ultimate cost (or savings) of bariatric surgery and discusses why insurance companies don’t always cover the procedure.
The narrative alone makes the story worth reading, and when Allen adds the numbers it draws a particularly compelling picture.
• In the first five months of 2008, taxpayers provided Daswell (who topped out at 380 pounds) with 17 medications for obesity-related health problems at a cost of $8,374.19.
• In the first five months of 2009 (after the surgery), taxpayers provided Daswell with 13 medications for obesity-related health problems, many at reduced dosages, at a cost of $5,106.54.
It’s a simple measure, but shows a savings of $3,267.65 in the five months, a 39 percent reduction in expenses in drugs alone.
Daswell’s surgery cost about $16,000 for the procedure and first year of follow up. If the pharmacy costs were the only savings realized, the expense could be recouped in just over two years. That does not count the costs Medicare would presumably save in doctor visits and medical equipment — he barely uses the sleep apnea machine he once depended on every night. The equation would also have to factor in the long-term chance that Daswell could contribute to the economy by getting a job and going off Medicare disability.
Bariatric surgery: Resources and story ideas for reportersMarshall goes on to say that while Daswell’s case is somewhat exceptional, the results and savings are, for the most part, generalizable to the population at large. Bariatric surgery, Marshall found, usually pays for itself within a few years.
New CDC site aims to reduce workplace obesity
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has launched a Web site called “LEAN Works” as part of a campaign to work with employers to reduce workplace obesity. In CDC-speak, LEAN stands for Leading Employees to Activity and Nutrition.
The campaign aims to speak in a language business can understand, emphasizing the negative impact big waistlines can have on a company’s bottom line. They even provide an obesity cost calculator, which will allow any HR department creepy enough to have every employee’s body mass index on file to calculate the precise projected return on investment yielded by an obesity intervention program.
The CDC also gives tips on how to set up a workplace obesity intervention, how to keep the momentum going and how to measure whether or not it’s producing any results.
(Hat tip to the NPR Health Blog)
AHCJ Resource
Covering Obesity: A Guide for Reporters
The prospect of covering such a broad, engaging and important topic as obesity can be overwhelming. This guide, supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is designed to help journalists cover a wide range of stories, whether writing on deadline or researching a multipart series. It offers assistance on calculating body mass index, finding obesity statistics on the state level, gauging the quality of school district wellness policies, finding innovative school nutrition policies and much more. Supplementary material can be found on this page.
Vegetables, healthy food on Obama agenda
In yet another break with the Bush family legacy, the Obamas, led by matriarch Michelle, have embraced broccoli and other local greens and encourage others to do the same. New York Times reporter Rachel L. Swarns chronicled the pro-vegetable, pro-local eating agenda of the first family. Swarns leads with the First Lady praising a local soup kitchen’s steamed broccoli and homemade mushroom risotto, then digs deeper into her struggles to promote a healthy agenda both around the country and around her own dinner table.
White House officials say the focus on healthy living will be a significant item on Mrs. Obama’s agenda, which already includes supporting working families and military spouses. As the nation battles an obesity epidemic and a hard-to-break taste for oversweetened and oversalted dishes, her message is clear: Fresh, nutritious foods are not delicacies to be savored by the wealthy, but critical components of the diets of ordinary and struggling families.
Some healthy-eating advocates want the Obamas to go even further, Swarn found.
(Gourmet magazine Editor Ruth) Reichl would like the White House kitchen to issue regular news releases that describe what the first couple and their daughters are eating. (Then parents across the country could tell their children, “You know, Malia and Sasha were eating salad yesterday. …”)
Culture, history blamed for ‘fattest city’ status
An AP analysis of CDC data has found that Huntington, W.Va., to be the fattest city in the United States: “Nearly half the adults in Huntington’s five-county metropolitan area are obese — an astounding percentage, far bigger than the national average in a country with a well-known weight problem.”
Health officials cite culture and history as two problems contributing to the area’s obesity.
“Covering Obesity: A Guide for Reporters” offers additional background for reporting on societal factors and their influence on obesity rates. From the guide (page 29):
Through generations of living with food scarcity in harsh environments, the Pimas developed a genetic trait that allowed their bodies to efficiently store extra calories for periods of famine, the researchers believe. This genetic adaptation is known as the ‘thrifty gene theory.’
A virtue amid scarcity, the theory goes, the thrifty gene can become a liability when food is abundant. Calories are still stored as though a shortage is looming, and the pounds accumulate.
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Health Journalism 2010, AHCJ's annual conference, features a world-class program with story ideas, sources, stronger reporting skills, chances to meet newsmakers and network with other journalists.
- Health and education: Covering these intersecting beats
- Reporting on the business of health care
- Health reporting resources for journalists on state and local government beats
- Shortened Lives: How location, lifestyle affect health
- Covering a complex story for the long haul
- Aging in the 21st Century: Presentations and tip sheets
- AHCJ calls for better information from Joint Commission Web site
