Mike Mattner

Time for a quick little freakout–in line with this sort of blatant paternalism:

Sugar is so toxic it should be controlled like alcohol, according to new report that goes so far as to suggest setting an age limit of 17 years to buy soda pop.

It points to sugar as a culprit behind many of the world’s major killers — heart disease, cancer and diabetes — that are now a greater health burden than infectious disease.

Are you kidding me here? Why is the modern reaction to problems like this always some form of government regulation? People are utterly and truly aware of the affects of sugar. Instead, these things are painted as some giant societal ill:

“We recognize that societal intervention to reduce the supply and demand for sugar faces an uphill political battle against a powerful sugar lobby,” the researchers say, “and will require active engagement from all stakeholders.”

But such “tectonic shifts” in policy are possible, they say, pointing to bans on public smoking, limits on alcohol sales and condom dispensers in public washrooms. “It’s time to turn our attention to sugar.”

The battle is not political, it is with consumers. Get that through your heads.