According to a report published earlier this month, obesity rates in Florida have risen more than 80 percent in the past 15 years.
A bill proposed in the California Legislature that would have have taxed sodas, energy drinks, sweet teas and other sugary beverages, with those revenues going towards toward youth education and obesity-prevention programs died in committee this past April. Business organizations, restaurant and beverage groups and grocers were among the groups who fought against the legislation.
In New York, a similar attempt by then Governor David Patterson also died in 2010
That was probably the closest that any such proposal has been enacted in the U.S., but with health care costs continuing to rise, as well as levels of obesity and those attendant health care issues, it won't be the last.
That's what makes New York Times Times magazine food columnist Mark Bittman's essay in the SundayReview section of the Times, called "Bad Food, Tax It and Subsidize Vegetables," so interesting.
This article appears in Jul 21-27, 2011.