{"id":146181,"date":"2016-12-07T11:19:43","date_gmt":"2016-12-07T09:19:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=146181"},"modified":"2016-12-07T11:21:37","modified_gmt":"2016-12-07T09:21:37","slug":"coca-cola-is-funding-research-against-south-africas-proposed-sugar-tax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/146181\/coca-cola-is-funding-research-against-south-africas-proposed-sugar-tax\/","title":{"rendered":"Coca-Cola is funding research against South Africa&#8217;s proposed Sugar Tax"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Coca-Cola Company has funded research by respected think tank the South African Institute for Race Relations (IRR) on taxing sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), reports <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.fin24.com\/Economy\/exposed-coca-cola-bankrolls-irr-research-on-sugary-tax-in-sa-20161206\" target=\"_blank\">Fin24.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The IRR subsequently used the paper to engage the National Treasury as to the detriments imposing the proposed Sugar tax would have on the economy.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The IRR actively sought out this project by approaching groups that were likely to be negatively affected and asking for funding to do this research,&#8221; media and public affairs officer Kelebogile Leepile told Fin24.<\/p>\n<p>This was confirmed by Coca-Cola head of communications Zipporah Maubane: &#8220;In response to a proposal by the IRR, the Coca-Cola system agreed to fund a research study examining the socio-economic impact of a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The amount of funding provided by Coca-Cola to conduct the research has not been disclosed.<\/p>\n<p>Marion Nestle, a renowned US consumer advocate, nutritionist, acclaimed author and academic believes that this non-disclosure is not unusual and has been a serious strategy of the beverage industry to fund research that comes out with results that favour the industry&#8217;s interests.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If you see a study funded by a soda company or trade association, you can be almost 100% sure that its results will please its funder,&#8221; said the professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University.<\/p>\n<p><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Coca-Cola-Insert.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-146203\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Coca-Cola-Insert.jpg\" alt=\"coca-cola-insert\" width=\"620\" height=\"461\" srcset=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Coca-Cola-Insert.jpg 620w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Coca-Cola-Insert-300x223.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/135009\/7-questions-for-the-minister-of-health-on-a-proposed-sugar-tax-for-south-africa\/\">7 questions for the minister of health on a proposed sugar tax for South Africa<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Coca-Cola Company has funded research by respected think tank the South African Institute for Race Relations (IRR) on taxing sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), reports Fin24.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":146201,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-146181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146181"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":146233,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146181\/revisions\/146233"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}