Potsdam. After the state elections in September, the Brandenburg Greens intend to launch a Federal Council initiative to introduce a sugar tax on soft drinks and breakfast cereals. The announcement was made by the leading candidate in the state elections, State Secretary for Consumer Protection Antje Töpfer, on Tuesday in Potsdam. The measure is intended, among other things, to prevent diet-related diseases such as diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease. The revenues from the sugar tax could be used to finance prevention programmes in the health system. “High sugar consumption, especially through highly sugary soft drinks and breakfast cereals, is a serious health problem,” said Töpfer. “Studies show that excessive sugar consumption significantly increases the risk of numerous chronic diseases.”
However, this project did not meet with much approval from the coalition partner CDU: “It is important to deal transparently with the fact that soft drinks, breakfast cereals, but also many other foods contain a huge amount of sugar,” says the state deputy. Roswitha Schier, who represents the CDU, is a member of the health committee. “When it comes to this issue, we rely on people’s personal responsibility and their own awareness about the foods and drinks they feed themselves and their children.” people about sugary diets. “Initiating sugar taxes only on soft drinks and cereals is also far from reducing sugar consumption – with today’s products, some of which are full of sugar.” (to leave)