Time for a sugar tax
The UK government is set to start levying a tax on sugar-sweetened drinks next month. Drinks that contain five or more grams of sugar per 100 milliliters are to be subject to a sugar tax of £0.18 per liter (US$0.26), and those containing 8g or more per 100ml are to be taxed at a rate of £0. 24 per liter.
The UK Office for Budget Responsibility, which provides independent fiscal oversight, predicts that the sugar tax will only contribute half as much money to the Treasury as originally thought, because many beverage manufacturers have reduced their products’ sugar content in response to the standards set for the sugar tax.
Of course the UK authorities’ main purpose in imposing a sugar tax is not to generate tax revenue, but to improve the nation’s health and cut the costs faced by the National Health Service.
Scientists and other researchers who investigated the sugar tax’s potential impact on health have found that it might contribute to public health by greatly reducing the number of people who suffer from obesity, diabetes and tooth decay.
In view of the negative effect on human health of leanness-enhancing animal feed additives, the Taiwanese government is unwilling to lift restrictions on the import of pork and specific beef products that contain the additive ractopamine.
If the government wants to safeguard people’s health, should it not be similarly concerned about the problem of sugary drinks causing serious health threats like obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases? Especially since experts say that having a sweet tooth is very much like drug addiction, and the WHO has published research showing that sugar does even more harm to the human body than tobacco.
Wei Shih-chang
Yilan
Reading program a success
Sherry Hsiao’s story about vaccinations raises two important points: Thinking globally, but acting locally; and integrating literacy development with doctor visits (“Group uses vaccination visits to get kids reading,” March 25, page 3).
Chen You-ta (陳宥達), a resident physician from Taipei Medical University Hospital’s Department of Family Medicine, has designed a Reach Out and Read (ROR) program for children in rural areas of Taiwan based on the original ROR program in Boston, Massachusetts.
Through a formula that includes volunteers, family visits, grandparents and children’s books, Chen’s ROR Taiwan goals are “bridging the generation gap and allowing children in remote areas to find hope through reading.”
Chen clearly sees the importance of reading, and by supplying books for the program, he realizes and solves a common obstacle facing those living in rural areas of the world: access to books.
US studies show that children participating in ROR programs make impressive gains in vocabulary.
However, one need not look any further than Taiwan to find relevant research about the benefits of reading aloud to children. A number of articles by professor Lee Sy-ying (李思穎) at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology and others show the importance of access to reading materials and the value of reading stories to children.
The key is compelling comprehensible input in the form of stories for the children to hear and read.
While I am not a physician and do not wish to comment on the use of vaccines, I do think Chen’s program linking doctor’s visits and reading is a positive initiative worth encouraging, commending and expanding upon.
Ken Smith
Wellington, New Zealand
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under