The New York Times, ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS, April 4, 2010
New York State’s health commissioner would be the first to admit he has soft drinks on the brain.
The commissioner, Dr. Richard F. Daines, was recently driving down Interstate 15 in Utah, his home state, when he came across four billboards in a row that beamed a subliminal message at him, and not the one the advertisers intended.
The first billboard said, “44 Ounce Soda, 99 Cents.” (“This is a carbonated beverage, meant to be consumed in your car,” he said, marveling …

September 16, 2009. Reuters.
More U.S. health experts called for taxing sweetened soft drinks on Wednesday, saying such taxes could fight obesity and be used to fund public health efforts.
New York City health commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley, nutritionist Dr. Walter Willett of the Harvard School of Public Health, Kelly Brownell, an obesity expert at Yale University in Connecticut and others said the current taxes do not go far enough.
“We propose an excise tax of one percent per ounce for any beverages that have any added caloric sweetener,” they wrote in their …

AFP September 8, 2009
President Barack Obama hinted he could support a “sin tax” on fizzy drinks to help lower high rates of US obesity, but admitted it would be an uphill battle against corporate and economic interests.
“I actually think it’s an idea that we should be exploring,” Obama said in the forthcoming issue of Men’s Health, regarding potential taxes levied on soft drinks such as colas and other sugar-filled products.
“There’s no doubt that our kids drink way too much soda. And every study that’s been done about obesity shows that …

Found via Morten.me
Discussion in The Washington Post on whether soda tax is fair.
As I reported in April, Yale professor Kelly Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, and Thomas Frieden, health commissioner for the city of New York, have renewed their push for a soda tax as a means of curbing obesity.
In this week’s “Eat, Drink and Be Healthy” column, Brownell reiterates his belief that a soda tax would dramatically reduce soda consumption. He’s among the many experts who are convinced that over-consumption of sugared …

Senate leaders are considering new federal taxes on soda and other sugary drinks to help pay for an overhaul of the nation’s health-care system.
The taxes would pay for only a fraction of the cost to expand health-insurance coverage to all Americans and would face strong opposition from the beverage industry. They also could spark a backlash from consumers who would have to pay several cents more for a soft drink.
On Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee is set to hear proposals from about a dozen experts about how to pay for …