http://www.castolee.com/2016/10/world-health-organization-urges-tax-on.html?m=1

The World Health Organization on Tuesday urged countries to impose a tax on sugary drinks to battle the growing obesity epidemic and presented new data on the beneficial health effects of such a tax.

“If governments tax products like sugary drinks, they can reduce suffering and save lives,” Dr. Douglas Bettcher, director of the W.H.O.’s Department for the Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases, said in a statement. “They can also cut health care costs.”

A spokesman for the W.H.O., Paul Garwood, said South Africa and Britain were considering taxes. Perhaps the best-known success story is in Mexico, which passed a sugary-drink tax in 2013, prompting a substantial drop in consumption. Hungary has imposed a tax on packaged products with high sugars, salt or caffeine levels.