Then They Came for the Fresca; The growing ambitions of the food police.

Slate ^ | Sept. 22, 2009 | William Saletan

[Lorianne]

My real interest is in the authors' third basis for regulation: market failure that

... results from time-inconsistent preferences (i.e., decisions that provide short-term gratification but long-term harm). This problem is exacerbated in the case of children and adolescents, who place a higher value on present satisfaction while more heavily discounting future consequences.

Wow. This isn't socialism. It's sheer paternalism. This, according to the authors, is a market failure that justifies taxation to alter your behavior, totally apart from its impact on public health costs.

This is what worries me about the crackdown on death sticks and edible crap. There's no end to its ambitions. We'd better start applying some brakes.

If you think I'm overreacting, I call your attention to this paragraph in the NEJM article:

No adverse health effects of noncaloric sweeteners have been consistently demonstrated, but there are concerns that diet beverages may increase calorie consumption by justifying consumption of other caloric foods or by promoting a preference for sweet tastes. At present, we do not propose taxing beverages with noncaloric sweeteners, but we recommend close tracking of studies to determine whether taxing might be justified in the future.

I'm sitting here looking at a can of Fresca. The nutrition label says it has no calories. The ingredients label lists only aspartame as a sweetener. If studies show that drinks like this one indirectly increase calorie consumption "by promoting a preference for sweet tastes," the food police are explicitly prepared to tax them. And the crusade won't end with soda. Anything sweet is a target.

I warn you people now. You can ban the Marlboros, tax the Cokes, and zone the Whoppers. But you'll get Plotz's Fresca when you pry it from his cold, dead hands.

[buccaneer81]

I love Fresca.

[boomop1]

DITTO

[Frantzie]

Fresca and OJ. About 50/50.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I like the Peach flavor Fresca the best. It mixes very well with a splash of vodka and a splash of Peachtree schnapps.

[Ben Mugged]

They can have my Fresca when they pry it from my cold, sticky, shaking (from the caffeine) fingers.

[Yaelle]

Seriously, any kind of lemon-lime soda that is diet, and is in an aluminum can, is probably the most toxic thing you could legally buy as food anywhere.

I don’t need to ban them but I would like people to know the truth about what they are drinking.

Toxic Benzene in sodas:

http://www.brighthub.com/health/diet-nutrition/articles/27333.aspx

Aspartame (in diet sodas) - neurotoxic carcinogen

http://www.safefood.org.nz/aspartaddict.html

Aluminum toxicity and Alzheimer’s, etc:

http://www.angelfire.com/az/sthurston/alzheimers_and_aluminum_toxicity.html

These effects are all cumulative when you drink a diet lemon-lime soda in an aluminum can.

[reagan_fanatic]

"How about a Fresca, eh?"

[truthguy]

A while back a friend of mind and I had an argument about all the taxes ,fees, and regulation concerning cigarettes and tobacco products. We were both non-smokers and neither of us like to be around tobacco smoke. My position was that it was not the government's job to interfere with smokers and it was their right to smoke. No one with an IQ over 60 did not know the risks with cigarette smoking. I was using the old slippery slope argument. I knew the busy bodies in government would not stop with tobacco. My friend thought that government would in fact stop after tobacco and all would be right with the world.

Well he has conceited that I was right and he was wrong with regards to the nanny state. They WILL NOT stop with tobacco. They will go on to trans fats, sugar drinks (soda), junk food and the lot. Hot Dogs will be next. Ice Cream is not far off. They have an insatiable desire to regulate behavior. They (government busy bodies) will take away every once of your freedom if you give them the chance.

"...when they came for the Jews, I wasn't Jewish..." .

Well I think all of you know the rest.

[TNCMAXQ]

This kind of thing might anger the American people more than the health bill.

[Viking2002]

Touch my Fresca, lose a limb. It's the only grapefruit diet soda in the land worth drinking.

[Lorianne]

And yet, conservatives are branded “authoritarian”

[Lorianne]

Thanks for the information.
This is the way to combat unhealthy products ... arm people with info, not drag them down with laws.

[Uncle Miltie]

"There's no end to its ambitions"

0bummerCare is about control of your body.

Slavery reinstituted by the black guy.

[Balding_Eagle]

Seriously, any kind of lemon-lime soda that is diet, and is in an aluminum can, is probably the most toxic thing you could legally buy as food anywhere.

IIRC, after watching shows on how aluminum can are amde, the aluminum is sealed before filling. The drink doesn't come in contact with aluminum.

[JimC214]

Yeah too bad Fresca is Grapefruit soda.

[ari-freedom]

it doesn’t help that there are some conservatives who go for this kind of thinking

[Max in Utah]

And yet, conservatives are branded “authoritarian”

Welcome to Soft Tyranny.

[AFreeBird]

Beer, in glass bottles. Mmmmm

[swmobuffalo]

I’d just be happy if they made Taco Bell lower the sodium content of their burritos!!

I’ve had to give them up because just one jacks my blood pressure up 20 points.