Description

In recent years, some cities have tried to impose soda taxes and other new policies to reduce the obesity epidemic in the US—particularly among children—and its critical impact on society and the health care system. How effective are these policies? What is blocking their uptake? What alternatives should we consider?

This event was free and open to the public.

Panelists

• Emily Broad Leib, Assistant Clinical Professor of Law, Director of the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic, and Deputy Director of the Harvard Law School Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation, Harvard Law School
• Steven Gortmaker, Professor of the Practice of Health Sociology, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health
• Carmel Shachar, Executive Director, Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics, Harvard Law School

Slide Presentations

• Steven Gortmaker, “Sugar Sweetened Beverage Taxes: Impact on Health, Health Care Costs, and Health Disparities”
• Emily M. Broad Leib, “Policies to Reduce Sugar Consumption: The Battleground”

The Health Policy and Bioethics Consortia is a monthly series that convenes two international experts from different fields or vantage points to discuss how biomedical innovation and health care delivery are affected by various ethical norms, laws, and regulations.

They are organized by the Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics and the Program on Regulation, Therapeutics, and Law (PORTAL) at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, in collaboration with the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School. Support provided by the Oswald DeN. Cammann Fund at Harvard University.