Groningen Centre for Health Law

The World Health Organization (WHO) has been a constant advocate for the promotion of taxation on sugary beverages in order to combat the rise of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). In January 2014, the Mexican government enacted a law with a taxation rate of 10%, an increase of one peso, on sugary beverages. At the time, 32.8% of the Mexican population was obese, and the country was considered to have the largest obesity rate in the world, according to the United Nation’s Food and Agricultural Organization. Studies show that Mexico’s sugar tax led to a continuous decrease in consumption seen within its first two years of implementation.  This raises the question:  To what extent would it be effective to implement taxation on sugary beverages as seen in Mexico in 2014, within the Netherlands?

NRC Handelsblad’s Saturday 25 November issue contains an entry of eleven pages entirely devoted to sugar. It discusses a broad range of topics related to sugar, including the role of sugar throughout the centuries, sugar consumption in the Netherlands, the amount of sugar in bread, and sugar production. Several scientists are quoted in an attempt to rebut the increasing scientific claim that sugar consumption causes overweight and obesity. A closer look at this entry shows that it is in fact an advertisement from Royal Cosun, an agro-industrial concern of the Dutch sugar beet producers. Given the neutral presentation of the entry, the reader is easily confused and misled about its content. How much leeway should the industry be given in promoting its products in a newspaper?