Sugar? Toxic?

I, unfortunately, got to watch CBS’s 60 Minutes program April 1 …  and I really hope that it was an April Fool’s Joke.

One of the segments was about a pediatric nutritionist who is on a campaign to get sugar declared toxic in humans. Give me a break.

The segment was of the usual caliber for a 60 Minutes show, so I was not all that surprised when the only other voice (other than the experts lined up to say how bad sugar is for people) was a poor Louisiana sugar cane grower who obviously was not really prepared for the hammering he got.

OK. First let me point out that sugar is not the best stuff for you and Americans eat far to much of it. If you don’t know that already then you really are living in some strange alternate universe. But to declare sugar toxic has the implications of invoking the food police to take all sugars away from everybody for their own good … in addition to all the sugar substitutes because, as we all know, they too are bad for us. So, much for having a sweet tooth.

The problem I have will all this is that I am not impressed enough with the science here to say that sugar should be banned as toxic, or if government has the right or the jurisdiction to do so. But then, I don’t agree with a lot of things the U.S. government finds itself involved in … being a proponent of limited government and government at the levels at the closest to the people as possible. I.E. that means local governments get preferences over state governments which get preferences over the federal government. It is the old “government that governs least is best” argument.

It is not that there isn’t a role for government and government regulations; it is just that federal regulations are not the be all, end all to every problem that one finds in the U.S. Unfortunately, I am in a distinct minority in my opinion these days, but I try to accept that would good grace. I am trying to be agreeable about disagreeing … but in that too, I fear, I am also in a diminishing minority.

So, take a vote …. all in favor of the government coming in to  your house and checking your shelves for illicit sugar and policing the grocery aisles to make sure none is available for your satisfaction, please raise your hand.