Soda tax could help ameliorate growing health-care crisis

In regards to the May 9 article, “Forum: Soda tax is Connecticut’s latest class warfare weapon of choice,” saying soda does no harm is sheer propaganda. Only a dissonant advocate for the sale of soda can dismiss the harm done by this product. A per-ounce tax on soft drinks is a small price to pay compared to the price of doing nothing in the face of the current obesity and diabetes epidemic they contribute to in no small part.

Health care, business and political leaders have known for many years that the rising incidence of diabetes, secondary to sugar-fueled obesity would render, and now has rendered, our health care system unaffordable. Today, the term “Type 2 diabetes” has replaced “late-onset diabetes” because so many young people are becoming diabetics that it no longer is a disease typical of senior citizens.

The adipose tissue added to the guts of millions of sugaraddicted Americans functions clinically the same as cancer as tissue that provides no benefit at the expense of the rest of the body. Similarly, the soft drink industry can be seen as a cancerous body in our society, serving only itself, and causing the ruin of the greater good.

People’s freedom is not at stake. People drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes and pay taxes on both. Soda is in the same boat. People who pollute their bodies invariably draw on health services in excess of the norms. A token fee would at least acknowledge this important part of an ongoing health crisis. — John Kilian, RN, Middletown