Oh, no!
Have you seen the commercial? A woman is heading into the checkout at a grocery store and complaining how new food taxes are unfair and evidence of government interference in our freedom of choice as Americans. She hefts a big 2-liter bottle of soda onto the conveyor as the website http://nofoodtaxes.com/ is flashed on the screen. In New York we saw these after our state proposed taxing all sugary beverages to try to reduce their consumption to combat the obesity epidemic. It was defeated but now many states are considering doing this.
Visit the website and you'll find that this is an effort by Coca Cola, grocery retailers, national retail associations, and more. Even the theater owners are getting into the mix. What's the deal?
Here's a link to Source Watch, a site that exposes who is behind it:
Here's a quote:
Americans Against Food Taxes (AAFT) is a front group funded by the beverage industry which consists of major restaurant chains, food and soft drink manufacturers and their associated lobbying groups. It was organized by the American Beverage Association to fight a proposed three to ten cent tax on soda, sugary drinks and energy drinks to help fund health care reform in the United States . . . Its Web site states that Americans Against Food Taxes is a "coalition of concerned citizens – responsible individuals, financially strapped families, small and large businesses in communities across the country" who opposed a government-proposed tax on food and beverages, including soda, juice drinks, and flavored milks. But its extensive membership consists mainly of lobbying groups for packaged food and soda companies, chain restaurant corporations and the world's large food and soft drink manufacturers and distributors, including the Coca-Cola Company, Dr. Pepper-Royal Crown Bottling Co., PepsiCo, Canada Dry Bottling Co. of New York, the Can Manufacturers Institute, 7-Eleven Convenience Stores, and Yum! Brands."
The New York State Department of Health cites research that supports taxing sugary drinks: www.health.state.ny.us/press/releases/2010/2010-03-16_sugar_beverage_and_obesity.htm
Don't let Agribusiness and the likes of the Corn Refiners Association, one of the "coalition members" of the Americans Against Food Taxes behind those ads, brainwash you. They are the very same folks who have brought you all those ads about high-fructose corn syrup being "the same as sugar" and recently getting FDA approval to call it "corn sugar" henceforth so low-information consumers will be unaware they are still consuming HFCS.
This vegan blog covers HFCS in part because if we are trying to eat for our health, this stuff is not good for us. If we're trying to live more naturally, this stuff isn't natural. As we choose healthier foods and eliminate cruel foods we need to consider the well-being of our human family at large. And large it is, with obesity in America going through the roof. Many believe that HFCS in soft drinks may be the single largest contributer. It's just as easy to opt for water or sodium-free seltzer and so much healthier!
