By Rashad Rolle
Tribune News Editor
rrolle@tribunemedia.net
HEALTH Minister Dr Michael Darville said likely opposition from local producers of sugary beverages is a key obstacle preventing the government from racing to introduce a sin tax.
His comment came after Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis said his administration is exploring “different tax structures for fruits and vegetables versus sugary and processed foods.”
Mr Davis made the comment at an event launching a new wellness unit in the Ministry of Health & Wellness.
“I am pushing (for a tax),” Dr Darville told The Tribune, “but I have to push from the health perspective. I am only the Ministry of Health. The Ministry of Finance has to ultimately make the decision and it has to be a discussion with the wholesale food distributors as well as the local beverage manufacturers in the country. You take, for instance, Coca-Cola. They produce all of the sodas, so the minute we talk about adding a tax on sugary beverages, it’s going to be pushback from that industry. So all of our local producers are definitely against it because it will affect their bottom line. But the health and wellness of the country is more important than an industry that is manufacturing something that is now creating a problem in the community and for our ability to push back or fight back against non-communicable diseases.”
On Wednesday, Dr Darville tabled a report in the House of Assembly highlighting the country’s deepening problem with non-communicable diseases.
The Bahamas STEPS 2019 Report said the country exceeds the regional prevalence for overweight and obesity, and hypertension. In addition, the report concluded 85.3 per cent of the population does not meet the minimum daily intake/consumption of fruits and vegetables. It further said the country’s population ranks high among those more likely to die too young from NCDs.
The report recommends the government enact legislation to reduce the demand for unhealthy food products.
“Specifically,” the report says, “elimination of trans fats legislation and taxation of sugary beverages; and earmarking these taxes to support wellness. Example, evidence shows that a tax on SSBs (sugar-sweetened beverages) that increases retail price by 20 percent can reduce consumption by approximately 20 percent”.
Dr Darville said behavioural changes followed when Barbados added a 20 per cent excise tax to sugary beverages.
“Other countries in the Caribbean have done it,” he said. “Barbados has definitely led the way. I believe they did so some time ago and reaped some of the rewards because behavioural scientists have clearly indicated that tax is a deterrent and it does change behavioural patterns.
“Mexico has done it, England has done it, and also I think Chile has done it and they are getting positive results. You know in Mexico, by putting a tax on sugar-added beverages, they noticed a major reduction in childhood obesity because sugar is just empty calories with no nutritional value. As a matter of fact, the countries that have put the tax on are now contemplating increasing it.”
“The Ministry of Health is obviously raising the alarm and because we are raising the alarm we need to raise the alarm to the Ministry of Finance to see what position the country can go. We are noticing an exponential increase with patients showing up to our tertiary institutions with chronic, non-communicable diseases.”
Ministry of Health officials have been pushing for a sin tax for years. In 2018, former Health Minister Dr Duane Sands said officials would recommend the tax to Cabinet to help pay for National Health Insurance. However, nothing concrete came from that push.
