Ministry of Health repels public health zealots

1 March 2018

Ministry of Health documents released under the Official Information Act to the New Zealand Initiative’s Chief Economist Eric Crampton showing there is “no evidence that sugar taxes reduce obesity” are a welcome push back against public health academics, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Taxpayers’ Union Economist, Joe Ascroft, says “Public policy should be judged by its outcomes, not its intentions. While the public health academics that campaign for a sugar tax may have their heart in the right place, the evidence shows that sugar taxes simply do not work.”

“While sugar taxes don’t curb obesity, they still have a financial impact on families, especially those from vulnerable communities. Those families shouldn’t have to be sacrificed on the altar of ideology.”

“Public health academics often claim they support ‘evidence based policy making’. If that’s true, then they’ll abandon their positions in support of a sugar tax.”

ENDS

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