Sugar Tax
Wow, the politics in the US are sure heating up and getting intertwined! Time was where you had a few powerful lobbies, who all looked after their own interests. Increasingly the US is starting to see powerful lobbies working together in very convoluted ways. Now a sugar tax?
World sugar consumption has tripled in the last 50 years!
Well first of all the world population has more than doubled in that time, so this accounts for most of it. Beyond this one of the things Michael Pollan pointed out in his book Omnivore’s Dilemma is during the time high fructose corn syrup was introduced into US soft drinks, American’s consumption of ordinary sugar stayed nearly constant. In other words, the HFCS was just more sugar added on top of existing consumption, and HFCS probably doesn’t satisfy an appetite for real sugar.
Considering an increase of all sweeteners together is misleading. In fact, I think if you only consider per capita consumption of ordinary sugar, you aren’t likely to see a meaningful increase over the last 50 years. To the extent there is an increase, I would suspect it’s more closely tied to wealth than anything else.
There are many reasons to believe that not only is a modest amount of ordinary sugar a relatively safe and constructive part of a balanced diet, but it’s an appetite suppressant and trying to eliminate or reduce it will almost certainly lead to the overconsumption of other foods. It’s known for example that people who drink sugar-free soft drinks are statistically heavier than those who drink the sugared version, and this could be one reason.
More Profit in Sugar Alternatives
The problem is while sugar is a commodity crop, and relatively speaking expensive to transport, process and store, as well as subject to swings in price depending on availability, the alternatives like HFCS and aspartame are not. These alternatives are patented, cheap to manufacture and represent huge profits for the companies that sell them and own the associated intellectual property rights.
Calories
The argument is sugar ‘and other sweeteners’ contain too many calories, making it ‘better’ to consume an artificial sweetener like aspartame. In fact there is not a single shred of credible evidence to suggest any link between the number of calories you consume and health. Calories are a very old unit of measure determined by literally burning food and seeing how much heat is given off. Your body does not metabolize food this way, and you can’t make any comparisons.
It’s true, there are low calorie diets which help people lose weight, but in nearly all cases the diets cannot be sustained and the weight returns after ending the diet. In fact most people who attempt such diets end up heavier in the end. This is all you can say about calories, and there’s nothing about this weight gain and loss that’s healthy.
Dangers of Non-Sugar Sweeteners
Alternative sweeteners like aspartame and HFCS have so many health concerns or suspected health concerns associated with them, that I’m not even going to get into it here. I’ve written some posts about these, and you can find lots of other things by searching the Internet.
In particular both of these are suspected of being behind the current world wide obesity epidemic, and are both suspected or known carcinogens.
Age Limit for Buying Soft Drinks?
Not to be left out here are of course the tobacco and alcohol lobbies.
To begin with the tobacco lobby does not want any legal competition with their products. This is the reason they were behind prohibition, worldwide cannabis bans and want age limits that ensure as young people grow up there’s a period of time where tobacco is the only legal drug available to them. It’s pretty logical they would like to see sugar less available, because craving it could also make using tobacco more attractive.
More importantly the tobacco industry wants to see the culture of enforced age limits, as a way of making their products seem safer. After all if we have age limits for everything from alcohol to tanning salons, and tobacco has a relatively low limit, it makes tobacco products seem safer and more normal to young people. In fact there are few more lethal products worldwide than tobacco.
Alcohol follows closely behind tobacco, because if you’re addicted to tobacco, you’re much more likely to consume larger amounts of alcohol.
What is it about elections in the US that brings together such powerful political lobbies in such intrusive ways?
Alternatives?
How about some alternatives to a sugar tax:
Prohibition of soft drink and candy vending machines in schools, except for products containing 100% fruit, ordinary sugar, water or other completely natural ingredients.
Prohibition of sponsorship or promotion of processed foods, in a similar way promotion of tobacco products is prohibited in many places now.
Prohibition or tax on HFCS and aspartame.
A tax in the US on saturated fat, like in Denmark and Hungary.
End subsidies on corn, HFCS and ethanol.
A levy on brand name soft drinks, in a similar way brand name cigarettes are priced higher in the US.
Anyone have other suggestions?
EU Seed Laws Struck Down by High Court…(not yet!)
[update: I've been told this is a prejudicial opinion, thus not yet the ruling of the court and not yet a binding decision. Hopefully we'll have a more concrete ruling later.]
Yesterday an EU Advocate-General sided with French seed organization Kokopelli on the provision in EU law prohibiting the sale of unregistered varieties.
In reference to EU seed laws and related French regulations, the Advocate-General said they
“violate the principle of proportionality, free enterprise, free movement of goods, and the principle of non discrimination.”
The Advocate-General said the official seed catalog has
“nothing to do with plant health”
and
“it is up to farmers to decide which varieties they grow”
the Advocate-General added
“the fact that farmers are confined to the listed varieties greatly reduces genetic diversity in European fields.”
Unfortunately the original opinion was written in German, and as of the time of this post had not yet been translated into English. You can read the opinion in a variety of non-English languages here.
Almost all of Kokopelli’s arguments were upheld, and most of the opposition’s arguments were not.
Reclaim the Seeds
Local seed and food organization Aseed is sponsoring a seed swap and local food fair. Bifurcated Carrots will be there with a stand on Saturday.
If you’re in the area, please come by! Entrance is free.
If you’re able to sponsor a stand or presentation on either day, please get in touch! You can either contact me, and I will put you in touch with the right person, or you can contact them directly via their websites. There is no cost to sponsor a stand. You can either give seeds and plants away at no cost, or you can sell them. You can also run an information only stand.
Open Tap for Anitibiotics in US Agriculture
It’s a busy Christmas for politicians this year! Lots of things seem to be being sneaked through during the holiday season. I posted a few days ago about the announcement of a GM corn trial in Belgium, and now I’ve come across this quiet announcement by the FDA in the US that they are formally giving up trying to regulate the routine feeding of antibiotics to livestock in the US. It’s not like they’ve been doing much in the past, but now it’s official.
Supposedly, Europe is going in a different direction, but I’m not sure that really means anything. Now the routine feeding of antibiotics as a growth stimulant is forbidden, but all that means is farmers have to say it’s necessary for something else, and can continue to use them. Maybe all routine use will be prohibited, but this is far from a done deal.
New GM Corn Trial Planned in Belgium
Following up on the GM potato trial that took place last year in Belgium, a new GM trial — this time corn, is planned for the coming three years in the same location! I wonder if they’re going to build a stronger fence this time?! Is it just a coincidence they announced this the day before Christmas holiday weekend?
This time they assure us no one could possibly object to the trial. They say they will remove the tassels before the plants produce pollen so contamination of the nearby environment won’t be possible. They also say there will be no business interests, it will only be a project of the university. Hm, I wonder if the university has any business connections itself…
An important message from the organizers of the resistance:
[EN] Hello,
Yesterday we learned that the VIB is requesting authorisation for a field trial for GM maize in Wetteren. This crop would be launched in a three year open field trial, from 2012 on. A public consultation is organised which is open till 21 January.
It’s very important to respond individually to this consultation by using the special form for this purpose.
Below you find links to useful documents, press articles and a dossier that aims to develop some arguments on this case.
http://fieldliberation.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/rough-reader-on-the-new-vib-maize-crop.pdf
The pdf is just a personal summary of some facts and possible context around that sudden new field trial. To be used freely, as extra inspiration for replying at the inquiry, for an article, an action, or a campaign…
For more information see their website.
See here to respond to the consultation, but be aware as of the time of this post, the English language form wasn’t available. Keep trying! Let’s send some web traffic their way and let them know we’re eager, even before the form becomes available.
