Health groups ramp up the campaign against soft drinks
Australian health groups have banded together to call for tougher restrictions on the sale of soft drinks. They want a tax to be introduced on all sugary drinks to help reduce the rate of obesity.
Source: AM | Duration: 6min 12sec
TONY EASTLEY: Three of Australia's biggest health groups have joined forces to tackle the consumption of soft drinks, particularly among children.
They want the Federal Government to follow the lead of some countries and introduce a tax on sugary drinks.
And they're calling on all schools in Australia to ban the sale of soft drinks to help tackle the growing rate of obesity.
Anna MacDonald reports.
ANNA MACDONALD: It seems the taste on almost every child's lips is soft drink.
CHILD: They're sweet and fizzy. They just taste good.
CHILD 2: I like the fizziness and the flavour.
CHILD 3: Very, very sweet so it tastes yum.
ANNA MACDONALD: So yum a 2007 national survey found 47 per cent of Australian children aged between two and 16 consumed sugary drinks daily.
CRAIG SINCLAIR: What many people don't realise is just the sheer amount of sugar that is in a regular can of soft drink and now the default purchase is not 375 mls in a can, it is 600 mls and in 600 mls alone there is 16 teaspoons of sugar.
ANNA MACDONALD: Craig Sinclair is from the Cancer Council, which along with the Heart Foundation and Diabetes Australia will today launch a raft of recommendations to reduce soft drink consumption.
They want to tackle obesity - a key contributor to chronic disease.
At the top of their list is a tax on sugar-sweetened drinks.
Kellie-Ann Jolly is from the Heart Foundation.
KELLIE-ANN JOLLY: We want to investigate some of the tax options and get Federal Government to have a look at this to see whether increasing the price of sugary drinks can have an impact on consumption. We've seen this through tobacco and there are reviews that have been undertaken in America that actually shows that if we can increase the price then there is a likelihood that we can actually decrease the consumption.
ANNA MACDONALD: The three health groups would also like to see governments introduce tough restrictions on the advertising of soft drinks and on the sale of them in schools.
The Cancer Council's Craig Sinclair again.
CRAIG SINCLAIR: There is still too many schools both particularly in secondary schools that have vending machines and they're selling sugar sweetened beverages within the school canteens. That's clearly unacceptable.
ANNA MACDONALD: But they acknowledge the onus is on parents to help steer their children away from sugar, and instead towards water or low fat milk - like this mother.
MOTHER: Yes, we consciously avoid it at all costs. I'm a teacher and I see what goes into those lunch boxes and am constantly appalled.
TONY EASTLEY: A concerned mother ending Anna MacDonald's report.
TONY EASTLEY: The organisation which represents soft drink makers is the Australian Beverages Council.
Its CEO is Geoff Parker.
Geoff Parker, good morning. Why shouldn't soft drinks be banned in schools to discourage childhood obesity?
GEOFF PARKER: Good morning Tony. Look, we think we are already doing a fair amount of work in this space. About 10 years ago the industry restricted the sale of sugar sweetened soft drinks to primary schools. Let's not forget as well Tony that you know, yes these drinks do contain energy and that's exactly what kids need to run around particularly in high schools but we haven't sold sugar sweetened beverages to primary schools for quite some time.
TONY EASTLEY: So is that an admission that the products contribute to childhood obesity?
GEOFF PARKER: No, it's not. What contributes to childhood obesity are all kilojoules from the diet. No one food or beverage causes obesity and this is why we think this particular campaign is somewhat misguided.
TONY EASTLEY: Do you support any of the measures being proposed today by the Cancer Council, the Heart Foundation and Diabetes Australia?
GEOFF PARKER: Tony, what the beverages industry in Australia is already doing is much of what this campaign is asking for so we don't market sugar sweetened beverages to kids under, as an industry we don't market sugar sweetened beverages to kids under 12. We clearly label the kilojoules on a per serve basis right up the front on the label there on all cans and bottles.
The industry has listened to public health advocates many years ago and reformulated many of its products for low or no kilojoule options - one in three soft drinks sold in Australia doesn't have any kilojoules in it and as mentioned before, we don't sell or provide sugar sweetened beverages to schools.
So many of the things that the campaign is asking for, the industry has been doing for years.
TONY EASTLEY: But they want you to go a step further.
GEOFF PARKER: Ah, look we think that the industry is already doing enough. What we'd like to work with the likes of the alliance and governments. We'd like to work towards educating people about the concept of the total diet. This single focus on a particular nutrient, in this case sugar, is a misguided approach. It didn't work 10 years ago, Tony, with avoid fat. That didn't work. It's not going to work now with avoid sugar.
What people need to understand is that all kilojoules matter regardless of where they come from in the diet.
TONY EASTLEY: Are soft drinks good for you?
GEOFF PARKER: Soft drinks play an important role in a balanced diet with physical activity.
TONY EASTLEY: But are they good for you?
GEOFF PARKER: Some beverage do provide an energy source and let's not forget Tony, that people need energy to move around and to get up from their desk and to do the things that they need to do and those energies come, that energy comes from a range of food and beverages in the diet.
Absolutely soft drinks can be part of a balanced diet with physical activity.
TONY EASTLEY: The Federal Government has ruled out putting a tax on the drinks. Why is your industry opposed to such a measure?
GEOFF PARKER: Ah, look we're not anti-tax but we're against discriminatory taxes. The Henry Tax Review said that these types of taxes don't work. 2010 Productivity Commission into childhood obesity and the economic perspective said these types of taxes don't work so again, we're not against taxes but we're against discriminatory taxes.
TONY EASTLEY: Geoff Parker, the CEO of Australian Beverages Council.