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The Healthy Caribbean Coalition

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The Healthy Caribbean Coalition HCC OPEN LETTER TO HON. FREUNDEL STUART PRIME MINISTER OF BARBADOS CONGRATULATIONS ON “STANDING UP” TO THE BEVERAGE INDUSTRY November 25, 2016 Dear Hon. Prime Minister Freundel Stuart, The members of the Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC), Board of Directors, staff and volunteers, write to congratulate you on the leadership demonstrated your administration in resisting the efforts of the beverage industry to negatively influence your government’s decision to tax sugar sweetened beverages in Barbados. In June 2015 the Directors of HCC issued an open letter to our membership commending the Government of Barbados (GoB) on the announcement of a 10% excise tax on SSBs, effective August 1, 2015. At the time of implementation of the tax, Barbados was one of only 10 countries in the world to have implemented such as tax and today, one other country in the Caribbean has implemented the tax and many more are in the early planning stages. Globally, 14 countries have now implemented taxes on sugary drinks. On September 24th, 2016 at the 9th Annual Errol Barrow Memorial Dinner in Toronto, Canada, you spoke frankly about the grave impact of NCDs on Barbados and the Caribbean - “eating away” at the fabric of our societies in the region. You underscored, among other things, the urgent need for increased physical activity and the adoption of healthy diets in order to protect our communities ‘from the seemingly unstoppable march of this threat to our country’s development’. You further shared that your administration introduced the SSB tax in response to this public health emergency. You went on to describe Barbados’s experience with the beverage industry following the announcement of the SSB Tax. The excerpt from your speech is below. "When we imposed the tax on sweet drinks, it was such a shock to those two export sweet drinks to Barbados and who have taken over the tastes and the palates of our people; that a whole delegation flew into Barbados from the United States of America. The delegation was led by former governor of a State in the United States of America wanting to meet with me and wanting to meet with the Minister of health and so on, to try to convince us that we should remove the tax. They tried to tell us that if we were good enough to remove the tax, 1 they would help us in other ways with this whole issue of chronic non communicable diseases. We said thanks, but no thanks.”1 The Healthy Caribbean Coalition congratulates the GoB for standing up to Big Soda – an industry that invests millions of dollars in tactics aimed at undermining public health measures such as taxation of sugary drinks. As the roster of countries having implemented taxation on sugary drinks increases, so too does the frustration of the global billion dollar beverage industry. Examples of interference and undue influence on policymaking by the beverage industry are mounting and evoking not so distant memories of strategies employed by the tobacco industry to protect their profits at the expense of public health(1). In Columbia for example, local beverage industry giant Postobon was successful in banning the airing of an educational video to be broadcast on television stating that the add was inaccurate and would lead to public confusion(2). The video was produced by Asociación Educar Consumidores – a consumer organisation - with backing from Bloomberg Philanthropies. In a series of responses to various reports issued by the WHO Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity (ECHO), the International Food and Beverage Alliance (IFBA) came out strongly in opposition against taxation of sugary drinks questioning the efficacy of the tax in reducing consumption and recommending caution when approaching this action. In Oakland, California, taxation on SSBs was recently introduced despite industry efforts to halt the measure. The American Beverage Association, an industry group representing the soft-drink industry, contributed in excess of $5.4 million to a group opposing the Oakland tax on SSBs(3). Barbados’ example is no different, and in fact perhaps more worrisome. Multinational corporations have significant resources at their disposal which can be used as powerful bargaining tools to fund entire national health budgets in low and middle income countries or small island territories such as those in the Caribbean. In many respects the temptation is great in these settings where health and education programmes are s financially trained and relatively insignificant ‘donations’ to underwrite entire programmes are small prices for the industry to pay in order to obstruct the policy process. Government officials and civil society must be vigilant in their collective commitment to protect policy space from the interference of Big Soda and Big Food. The GoB demonstrated fortitude and integrity in the face of industry executives and their likely unabashed offer of ‘sweet’ incentives to dump the tax. This laudable act goes beyond politician’s easy rhetoric acknowledging the gravity of the NCD problem and laying out bold solutions which may never come to pass. This was a clear statement against private profits and in support of community health. We are all aware of numerous examples regionally and globally of government officials buckling under the pressures of the tobacco and alcohol industry at the expense of public health. This is the first instance that HCC is aware, in which a regional government has openly acknowledged refusal to be bullied by the beverage industry; even more remarkable - these were non- domestic companies - industry outsiders with deep pockets and far reaching global connections and influence. The work is far from done however. The Barbados tax has been implemented for just over one year now and the WHO has just released a new report recommending taxation aimed at raising the retail price of sugary drinks by 20% or more and providing subsidies for fresh fruits and vegetables that reduce prices by 10%-30%(4). Against this background and in support of the recent pledge by Caribbean Heads of Government to “elevate taxes on foods high in sugar, salt and trans-fats” (Thirty-Seventh Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), 4-6 July 2016, Georgetown Guyana. Communiqué), the HCC urges Hon. PM Stuart to increase the Barbados sugar tax from 10% to at least 20%. We further recommend the implementation of a comprehensive package of 1 All references to PM Stuart’s comments at the Annual Errol Barrow Memorial Dinner in Toronto were taken from the Barbados Advocate Newspaper October 7, 2015. 2 interventions (such as those outlined in CARPHA 6-Point Policy Package) aimed at tackling increasingly obesogenic environments. The HCC calls on all of our civil society members in the region, governments and the private sector as well as our international partners to join us in commending the GoB. With increasing interest in conquering LMICs as potential oceans of profits – there is no doubt that Big Soda and Big Food will come knocking on doors throughout the corridors of CARICOM. Prime Minister, the HCC commends your courage, transparency and integrity and we urge Heads of Government throughout the region to follow your example and resist any such pressure as you seek to implement policies such as the SSB tax in order to protect the health of our peoples. We look forward to supporting bold leadership in the region in the form of implementation of SSB taxation of at least 20% and the adoption of comprehensive suite of policies and legislative action aimed at creating enabling environments that allow people of the Caribbean to pursue healthy sustainable diets. Directors and members of the Healthy Caribbean Coalition November 25, 2016 REFERENCES 1. Big Soda Echoing Big Tobacco’s Tactics, Says Report on Lobbying [Internet]. [cited 2016 Nov 8]. Available from: http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/big-soda-echoing-big-tobacco-s-tactics- report/306232/ 2. World Health Organisation urges all countries to tax sugary drinks. The Guardian [Internet]. 2016 Oct 11 [cited 2016 Oct 13]; Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/oct/11/world- health-organisation-who-countries-tax-sugary-drinks 3. 4 cities vote to tax sugary drinks, soda [Internet]. USA TODAY. [cited 2016 Nov 9]. Available from: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/11/09/4-cities-vote-add-taxes-sugary- drinks/93535488/ 4. WHO | Fiscal policies for diet and the prevention of noncommunicable diseases [Internet]. WHO. [cited 2016 Oct 11]. Available from: http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/publications/fiscal- policies-diet-prevention/en/ 3 .
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