The Knesset's Finance Committee today (Tuesday) approved the order signed by Finance Minister Lieberman to increase the price of sugary drinks.
The committee members reached agreements with the Ministry of Finance to transfer NIS 120 million to the fight against diabetes and obesity, which will come from the state's income from the taxation of beverages.
In addition, the must will be excluded from taxation and also juices that have less than 5 grams of sugar per 100 ml. On the other hand, it was decided not to exclude diet drinks.
During the discussion, the committee members pressed to "paint" the tax on the issue of promoting a healthy diet.
MK Ofir Katz of the Likud claimed that the state's tax revenue is expected to reach NIS 380 million. Finally, it was agreed that the government's plan to reduce sugar consumption will receive NIS 80 million and the HMOs will receive another NIS 40 million. remainder.
Sugary drinks in a supermarket in Israel, Photo: Ami Shumen
The chairman of the Finance Committee, MK Alex Kushnir, said at the hearing: "After examining all the positions presented here, we are in the trend of improving the situation and that our children will have less diabetes. Therefore the taxation on sugary drinks will remain at NIS per liter, and on diet The tax is NIS 0.7 per liter. "
Experts: Taxing sugary drinks can save lives
The Association of Public Health Physicians of the Medical Association and the Israeli Forum for Sustainable Nutrition said about a month ago in a discussion in the Finance Committee that "taxing sugary drinks is a right step that is expected to save lives and prevent disease".
The Association of Public Health Physicians supported the proposal to treat sugary sugary drinks or diet drinks.
Experts call soft drinks "hard drinks", "in view of the difficulty and damage they place on individual health and public health."
Sugary drinks - one of the engines for obesity and diabetes ", Photo: Getty Images
They add that "there are epidemics of obesity and diabetes today, and sugary drinks are one of the significant engines for them. We must make sure that the price of the sugary drinks is appropriate and already embodies the health, economic and environmental costs for them, and will help curb these costs."
On the other hand, the position paper "Use of sugar substitutes among children and adolescents", published by the Ministry of Health in June 2020, indicated that the sugar substitutes were tested and found to be safe to use.
The positions of the experts do not support the policy promoted by the Ministry of Finance regarding the use of sugar substitutes.
For example, Prof. Ardon Rubinstein, who states in his opinion that according to dozens of research papers, analyzes and scientific review articles, "sugary drinks have no effect on rising blood sugar, weight gain and obesity and risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer and more."
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