While reviewing an online article about the foods you should
eat for younger skin, I chuckled when I thought, “Well, you certainly wouldn’t
find soda on that list." The beneficial foods listed were: salmon, carrots,
milk, almonds, safflower/sunflower oil, broccoli berries, spices, watermelon
and, my favorite, dark chocolate – but no soda.
Then I thought about those forward-thinking members of the Richmond , CA ,
City Council. Last week, they voted 5-2 to put a soda tax measure on the ballot
in November.
The sponsor of this soda tax, Councilman Jeff Ritterman,
also happens to be a doctor. He points to soda and other sugar-sweetened drinks
as the main cause of childhood obesity in Richmond .
In fact, he point-blank said soda “is a major killer, and it will kill these
young children unless we do something.”
If the voters get behind the soda tax, Richmond could become the first city in the
nation to implement a tax on soda and other sugary beverages. And the projected
$2-8 million in funds collected from the proposed tax would go to fight
childhood obesity. They would be used for after-school sports programs, school
gardens, health care for children with diabetes and healthier school meals -- all admirable and much-needed programs.
Of course, the American Beverage Association and grocers who
would lose a bit of income and soda drinkers who would have to pay the
penny-per-ounce tax are grousing about the unfairness of such a tax, calling it
a tax on poor people. I would beg to differ. This is a tax to help poor people.
First off, maybe someone with limited income would think twice about drinking
all those sodas and switch to water. And can you imagine all the good the money
from sodas could do for the youth of Richmond ?
Let’s hope the people of Richmond will follow the lead of their City
Council and vote to enact a soda tax to benefit the youth of their city. And
then let’s hope that this is the beginning of a domino effect on the rest of
the Bay Area.






