Mexican legislators vote for health - Alianza por la Salud Alimentaria

Mexican legislators vote for health

  • Public statement from the Nutritional Health Alliance.

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Mexico City, October 29, 2015. As member organizations of the Nutritional Health Alliance (Alianza por la Salud Alimentaria) we applaud the decision of the Mexican Senate and the ratification of the Chamber of Deputies to sustain Mexico’s national sugar-sweetened beverage tax, especially when the initiative to reduce this tax would mainly affect children, since products with added sugar that soda companies strategically target to children would have benefitted from this intiative.

Today, October 29, 2015, Mexican Senators, and eventually Deputies from the lower house of Mexican Congress as well, were sensitive to voices from civil society and from national and international experts when they sustained the national special tax (called an IEPS in Spanish) at the same rate of one peso per liter (10%) for all sugar-sweetened beverages. Although not achieved on this occasion, many legislators called for the SSB tax to be raised to 20%, in accordance with international recommendations.

“This case should be a lesson to the Legislative Branch in the sense that they should not adopt any legislative initiative coming from the private sector without carrying out a scientific evaluation of the effects that it could cause. This dispute between political parties in the lower house of Congress, in which the PRI and PAN parties accused one another for introducing this proposal to Congress, should help prevent this situation from recurring. When an initiative arises in this way from the private sector, from closed-door meetings, with no open debate with experts and the public, and no scientific review, it clearly reveals that there is a conflict of interest. These practices need to end in our country,” indicated Alejandro Calvillo, director of Alliance member El Poder del Consumidor, a Mexican consumer rights group.

Luis Manuel Encarnación, coordinator of the ContraPESO NCD network and Alliance member declared: “As civil society organizations, we recognize the sensitivity, commitment and consistency shown by Senators and Congressmembers who rejected the proposal to weaken the tax, which benefits the health of the Mexican population, especially girls and boys. Legislators sent a clear sign that they will not weaken policies that generate direct benefits to health. This fiscal policy has been an important example to other countries and it should be strengthened in upcoming years.”

Erick Antonio Ochoa, Alliance member and director of the InterAmerican Heart Foundation in Mexico, stated: “This public decision put bad legislators in the spotlight, all those who promoted the soda industry’s interests above the right to health. It exposed them as politically incorrect.” The tobacco control and healthy heart advocate added, “This is a lesson not just for Mexico, but for the international community that promotes public health policies and transparency. It is our duty to expose public decision makers who favor corporate interests over public health.”

“The proposed reduction was going to make sugary drinks more accessible to girls, boys and teenagers, incentivising their daily consumption… We denounce how these huge corporations have been successful at placing the State on the sidelines from regulating these companies’ products, their distribution and their marketing practices… We are on alert so that the health of Mexican children and youth not be placed at risk again, under any pretext,” stated renowned Mexican human rights defender and Alliance member Miguel Concha Malo, General Director of the Fray Francisco de Vitoria Human Rights Center.

The Alliance reminds the national and international community and readers that the one peso per liter tax on sugar-sweetened beverages was implemented in Mexico starting in January 2014, with strong support of national and international organizations, including the Pan American Health Organization of the World Health Organization, the OECD and Mexico’s National Institute of Public Health, based on scientific evidence and policy recommendations that are free from conflict of interest.

Since its implementation, the tax has had a positive effect on consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, achieving an average 6% reduction on the purchase of these beverages by Mexican households in 2014 and up to a 12% monthly reduction by December 2014. (INSP/UNC, 2015). According to Mexico’s national statistics institute (INEGI), the tax reduced SSB consumption by about 7%, since the annual growth of these beverages was previously 3.4% and, in 2014, consumption experienced a reduction of 3.8%. (INEGI, 2015)

Now, we await legislative discussion and approval of the 2016 federal budget and expect Congress to be committed to allocating greater resources to effective obesity, diabetes and other diet related NCD prevention, starting with the allocation of sufficient resources for the installment of drinking water fountains in schools and public spaces as landmark initiatives to contribute to healthier children and diets.

As Juan Martín Pérez, Executive Director of the Mexican Children’s Rights Network (REDIM), concluded: “Moreover, the proposal of some legislators to reduce the SSB tax, arguing administrative and economic factors, represented a violation to children’s rights, particularly article IV of the Mexican Constitution, that states that all decisions made by our authorities must be made in the best interests of children. The Legislative Branch effectively demonstrated its autonomy in pushing back this initiative since there is no evidence that this measure would favor children, to the contrary it would place them at greater risk. It’s extremely important that Legislators do their duty in investing tax revenue to much needed drinking water fountains for children in schools and other effective childhood obesity prevention efforts.”

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