Producers of sugary drinks have a moral responsibility to acknowledge the damaging effects their products have on Pacific families says a member of the Pasifika Medical Association (PMA), after a recent Australian study found imports of sweetened drinks to Pacific nations increased each year from 2000 to 2015.
The main exporting countries of these products to the Pacific are from Australia, New Zealand and the US, earning a combined total of $US1.1 billion. According to the research conducted by Deakin University in Australia, taxpayers are having to pay for the rising healthcare costs associated with sugary drinks.
Dr Colin Tukuitonga (DSM, MPH, FAFPHM, FRNZCGP) appeared on TVNZ’s Breakfast this morning, saying that the consumption of sugary drinks contributes massively to diet related chronic illnesses like diabetes and heart disease in the Pacific.
“Hospitals are increasingly filled up with people having complications, kidney failure, blindness, and all manner of things as a result of these conditions. It’s a depressing and terrible story that’s not going to go away in a hurry.
Everybody that makes something and produces it and puts it out on the market must have some awareness and some consciousness of both the good and negative impacts of their products. There’s a moral responsibility for companies to have a look at what they are putting out in the marketplace.”
Dr Tukuitonga applauds the proactiveness that some Pacific nations have shown to combat the social and health implications sugary drinks have on their community. A majority of Pacific nations have introduced a tax on sugary drinks, for instance.
“There was a recent paper out of Tonga where they looked at the impact of the sugar tax in Tonga and it did lead to a reduction of the purchases of soft drinks. People say we don’t have enough evidence, and that is just rubbish. There’s plenty of evidence from around the world to say that if you increase tax on soft drinks, you will reduce consumption.”
But he says more needs to be done by the Pacific nations to solve the problem.
“They are doing a lot. What they need is resources and expertise from us, our government and others. The solution from the islands will not come from the outside. The solution will have to come from within the Pacific.”
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Date: Wednesday 26 May 2021