If you have the power will you ban high fructose corn syrup?

LovelyA72@lemmy.ml to Asklemmy@lemmy.ml – 128 points –

rt, will you ban it?

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No, because just banning things rarely achieves the desired results.

And whether it’s cane sugar or high fructose corn syrup, too much sugar in general is the problem, much more so than the subtle differences between the two.

Instead, tax it enough. And maybe do that with sugar/fat/etc in general, so that inherently sweeter and fattier foods can't be sold as cheap. It works in some countries already.

Maybe. A possibility for sure. I’m just not really into policies of trying to save people from themselves.

For me? I do what I can by just avoiding it as much as I can.

No man is an island and policies that aim to better the nation's health are rarely for the benefit of the individual and rather are a way to benefit the masses by increasing productivity in the labor market, reducing healthcare costs, and generally making the nation more competitive on the international stage

Right and I get that, and I’m not saying that’s a bad idea, but again I just get a really bad taste in my mouth for policies that aim to save people from themselves. It just feels like the government being a parent instead of a service of the people. Secondly, it doesn’t really fix the root of the problem, which doesn’t always have to be the goal in policies obviously, but reluctantly making people make decisions with higher prices. Where should the government stop then in using higher taxes to get us to do what it wants?

Again, I’m torn on this because it may be the correct thing to do to cut down sugar consumption, but I hate the precedent it creates.