Today as I was driving back from the hospital to see my brother, who just had a leg amputated because of diabetes (he is 48), I was listening to KPFT-FM - there was a show on childhood obesity.
A physician from Baylor Medical School, a Houston City Councilman, and another public health advocate (I didn't get her name or who she was) were discussing the proposed 25 cent tax on soft drinks. The politician had the gaul to say that taxing a food source is unreasonable for children in poor neighborhoods, he said that the tax would limit their food choices. The problem is that soft drinks (Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Sprite, Fanta etc) are not a food source. They are just a sugar source, and a bad one at that - full of High Fructose Corn Syrup. The doctor really disappointed me when he did not whole heartedly support the tax...
Even more depressing was that the KPFT announcer said he was also against the tax.
I wonder how some people can say things like taxing soft drinks would be bad for kids. How can this be if these drinks are directly responsible for the obesity epidemic we are experiencing. Drinking plain water is much healthier, cheaper, and non-fattening.
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