Sorry for the Delay! and Taxes on Soda...

The sultry soda temptress

I have been terrible! It has been so long since my last post and I think that I will probabaly be a little bit till my next one too since I have been so consumed with school. However, I am still trying my best to follow the food news and put my 2 cents in.

One item of news that has been bobbing around for the past few years is a soda tax. I found a great article by Appetite for Profit on the soda tax and how it's mere suggestion has revealed the ugly side of USDA politics. Since Dr.s at the Philadelphia Childrens Hospital spoke out against Soda's negative impact on the obesity rate in America, the American Beverage Association has donated 10 million to the hospital in order to combat obesity. They also want to quell any talks about putting a tax on soda, which would meddle in their competitively low prices. As a result the mayor of Philadelphia is no longer considering the tax for this year.

I remember a few years ago when they were debating this issue in my area, there were commercials on TV with a mother putting away her groceries, complaining about how it's hard enough for her to feed her family without government meddling with her pocketbook.

The thing is, if you are having trouble making ends meet, why are you buying soda at all? There is a great drink that is available to all of us for almost nothing: WATER!

Look how cute water can be!

 Not to mention that all of the health problems caused by drinking too much soda (which drive everyone's health costs up), as well as the damage to the environment caused by the harsh processing practices, use of GMOs in ingredients, and un-recycled containers. These are things that the beverage industry is getting a free pass for. Maybe we should be taxing the beverage company too, but either way buying less soda and making it more expensive to poison yourself isn't a bad idea. This whole issue, as brought up in the article, is very similar to what happened to Big Tobacco. Both industries are trying to sell is things that we really do not need at all, and are actually bad for our health. And both need to convince the consumer that anything making it harder for them to buy their product so often is simply an attack on freedom.

Although I don't think that government should be messing with people's lives, I think of this proposed tax as more of a protection. Big business has ALREADY attacked and hooked many Americans on their products. Anything the government does to try to curb this would be an act of defense against big beverage companies rather than an offensive stripping of our freedom. Honestly, a few cents on every ounce of soda is not going to really make a big dent in obesity and metabolic syndrome. However, it can start to give a stigma to soda that eventually worked on the tobacco industry and the money collected can be used to promote health and wellness in America.

I would love to hear what some of you think about this, even if you disagree with me. Is there something I am missing? This seems like a no-brainer.