for edX

1. Article:
Sugar-sweetened beverage tax to lower obesity
“The high consumption of sugar-added beverages contributes notoriously to excess energy intake
and is an important factor in the development of overweight and obesity in Mexico, representing a
call to define public policies that favor the reduction of sugar-added beverage consumption.
Considering that the high prevalence of overweight and obesity represents an enormous public
health issue in Mexico, having a State policy to change the eating and physical activity patterns
Mexican society, the Ministry of Health is currently instrumenting a “National strategy for obesity
and diabetes control”. The purpose of this initiative is to comply with the strategies established by the
“National Development Plan 2013-2018”, in reference to “making protection, promotion, and
prevention actions the core pillar for the improvement of health”, thereby following the respective
courses of action, such as: reducing morbidity and mortality caused by non-contagious chronic
diseases such as hypertension and diabetes, and to instrument actions for the prevention and control
of overweight, obesity and diabetes.
Given the problematic high prevalence of these diseases and their impacts, it is essential to
reinforce effective policies and programs for obesity prevention. In this sense, any effort to diminish
the adverse effects of this situation and the cost involved for its treatment should be analyzed not
only from a purely public health policy, which is why a fiscal measure will most likely contribute to
the aforementioned purposes.
In this sense, the present initiative proposed to Mexico’s Congress is to levy an IEPS (Special Tax on
Products and Services) tax, by setting, at the producer and importer level, a specific rate of 1
Mexican peso per liter of flavored beverages, including concentrates , powders, syrups, flavor
extracts or essences that when diluted produce flavored beverages that contain any type of added
sugars.
Instructions:
1. Read the following text about the official resolution that was published in the “Official Gazette of the
Federation” (DOF)., on December 9, 2013)
2. Critically analyze the arguments, claims, affirmations, suppositions and, above all, the inferences.
3. You can create a table for your findings and show how they appear on the text. You can also write
about the logic and consistency of the arguments used.
4. After your analysis, write a conclusion of the arguments and benefits of the new IEPS tax on
beverages.

2. 1 What are the arguments of the DOF article?
The article implies that sugar-added beverages are a main contributor to obesity in Mexico and an
IEPS tax will at least partially fix the problem.
2 Which consistencies or inconsistencies did you find in the document?
I don’t see evidence in the article to support the claim that a tax on producers and importers of
flavored beverages (including concentrates, powders, syrups, flavor extracts or essences) that
contain any type of added sugars, will reduce the high prevalence of overweight and obesity in
Mexico.
3 Which biases or errors did you find in the arguments (bad arguments, fallacies, omissions, false
inferences and deceptive statistics)?
Omissions: There are not statistics included as part of the article to support claims like: “high
consumption of sugar-added beverages contributes notoriously to excess energy intake”
Bad arguments: The only contributor to the high prevalence of overweight and obesity in the article
is sugar-added beverages. There are other contributors which should also be discussed.
Are we jumping to conclusions that a tax on producers and importers will fix this problem.
4 Can conclusions be drawn from the arguments?
I don’t think there is enough information provided to draw the conclusion that a tax on producers
and importers will fix the problem.

3. 5 Is the person’s point of view derived from his or her research?
There is no evidence of research in the article. It seems that the author leaves out the research
details.
6 How are you ordering your own arguments (to avoid being unfocused)?
When I read the article, my thought is that there needs to be research and evidence to support the
fact that sugary drinks are a major cause of overweight and obesity in Mexico.
Increasing the cost of sugary drinks through a tax will likely lower demand, but will the shift away
from sugary drinks lower obesity/overweight rates in the country? How do I know this from the
article? The article doesn’t give me enough information to feel confident that a tax will address the
issue at hand.