You may have noticed that the sugar tax is once again making headlines across Australia… and for good reason!
Last week, the Australian government was hit with an eight-point plan called “Tipping The Scales”, a strategy to tackle the rising obesity problem. And yes, a sugar tax is an important piece of this puzzle.
As you may know, Sarah and the IQS team spearheaded calls for an Australian sugar tax early last year. And we’ve got great news because we’ve just relaunched our petition with Change.org in the hopes we can take advantage of global momentum and get this tax across the line once and for all!
Why is this so important now?
Put simply, children and young people are now consuming the highest amounts of sugar of any age group, with some exceeding 38 teaspoons of sugar a day! That’s more than six times the World Health Organisation’s recommendation. And, a whopping 63.4 per cent of Australians are either overweight or obese. This is now classed as an epidemic.
Here’s hoping the Aussie government will finally pay attention to these shocking stats, and the latest call for change.
What about the rest of the world?
We’ve already seen other countries lead by example and reap the rewards…
- Portugal, who introduced a sugar tax in February, have reduced their soft drink sales by 25 per cent. They’re now looking at implementing new sugar limits to get manufacturers to cut down the sugar content of their products even further.
- Following in the footsteps of the UK, Ireland will also introduce a sugar tax in April next year! This has motivated Nestlé to lower the sugar content in their confectionary. Win, win.
- Mexico has had a sugar tax for nearly FOUR years now, and has had nothing but sweet success! With a 10 per cent drop in sales of sugary drinks and an estimated 190,000 cases of diabetes to be prevented in the future, it begs the question, why has Australia not jumped on board yet?
As our founder and director, Sarah, says “Let’s get it out there and make a difference! Tell the Aussie Government it’s time for a sugar tax on soft drinks!”
Spread the word and show your support for a sugar tax in Australia by signing the I Quit Sugar petition at http://ift.tt/241QNXS!
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