6 out of 10 citizens "Support imposing a sugar tax on foods high in sugar"
"There is a need to include warning labels about the dangers of sugar"
ㅡ
Survey on 'Sugar Tax Awareness' in South Korea
According to a survey conducted among 1,000 members of the general public, 58.9% of respondents supported imposing a sugar tax in the form of a health improvement levy on companies that produce products containing sugar and on foods high in sugar.
In addition, 82.3% agreed with the opinion that, similar to cigarette packs carrying warnings about the dangers of smoking, there is a need to include warning labels about the dangers of sugar along with the sugar content on soft drink products. (Commissioned by the Seoul National University Health Culture Project Group and Korea Research)
In addition, 82.3% agreed with the opinion that, similar to cigarette packs carrying warnings about the dangers of smoking, there is a need to include warning labels about the dangers of sugar along with the sugar content on soft drink products. (Commissioned by the Seoul National University Health Culture Project Group and Korea Research)
ㅡ
Sugar Tax Proven Effective in the UK
Research has already shown that the sugar tax is effective. In June of last year, a research team led by researcher Jus at the University of Cambridge Metabolic Science Institute in the UK published findings in the international journal 'Nature' showing that the number of hospitalizations for childhood asthma decreased after the implementation of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy in 2018.
Since 2018, the UK government has implemented the Soft Drinks Industry Levy, which imposes a tax on soft drinks containing monosaccharides. The goal is to reduce the population of children with obesity and the associated healthcare burden. For soft drinks containing 8g or more of sugar per 100ml, a levy of 0.24 euros per liter is imposed, and for those containing 5g or more of sugar per 100ml, the levy is 0.18 euros per liter.
According to a 2020 analysis by the Big Data Institute at the University of Oxford, which examined more than 200,000 observational data points on soft drinks from major UK supermarket websites, the proportion of beverages containing 5g or more of sugar per 100ml decreased from 49% in 2015 (before the announcement of the sugar tax) to 15% one year after its implementation.
-
Reporter Park Jisoo parkjisu09@asiae.co.kr
-
Edit Oh Hyunyoung hyun05@asiae.co.kr
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
