Malaysia recently became the latest nation to call for a tax on sugary foods or drinks to tackle obesity. Four thousand miles away, at a recent Senate inquiry into public health policy in Melbourne, Australia, Green Party Sen. Richard Di Natale quizzed me about the Australian Taxpayers' Alliance's research, which revealed that sugar taxes have failed to make any significant dent in obesity rates in the countries that have pursued them.
Instead of engaging with the claims and evidence, the questioning took a different line — Di Natale asked me: Public health lobby groups like the Australian Medical Association disagree with you. Are they wrong? Plainly put, yes. And now we have fresh evidence from the United Kingdom that indicates exactly that.
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