Check out this month's cover story in The Atlantic about the nation's obesity problem. The story sites soda taxes -- an idea currently under consideration in Philadelphia -- as one possible tool to combat obesity.
An excerpt:
And where are the ideas of the CDC's Thomas Frieden, arguably the administration's most outspoken anti-obesity advocate? In an article that appeared in Health Affairs shortly after the unveiling of the first lady's strategy, he advocated, among other measures: instituting "a tax of a penny an ounce on sugar-sweetened beverages"; increasing subsidies for fruits and vegetables; using zoning restrictions to keep fast-food restaurants away from schools; "removing unhealthy foods from all schools, child-care and health-care facilities, and government institutions"; and "completely eliminating" children's exposure to food advertising on television (which he says could reduce childhood obesity by 15 percent). In February, I asked Frieden about the discrepancy between his approach and the White House's, particularly on the soda tax. He responded quickly: "Price, if we learned from tobacco, is the single most effective way of reducing consumption, and I think there's strong evidence that a soda tax would be very effective. But a soda tax is also very controversial and very challenging, and, as with tobacco, a lot of the innovation happens at the state and local level. And I would anticipate that some state or other will likely go before any national level in terms of taxing soda."
You can read the full story here.