[smt88]

What is dangerous about banning products with added sugar?

I mean, I'm against it. A lot of traditional foods, like fruit preserves, have added sugar.

But what is danger, exactly? People would just not have food that tastes as good...

[dj_mc_merlin]

The danger is not in banning products with added sugar, but in the government having the power to regulate what one may do with one's body. If I wish to drink beer, smoke cigarettes and drink/do coke, that is my decision.

The primary argument against that is that it puts strain on society to provide for people when they experience health issues from that. I have paid my entire life for social health programs and health insurance though, why? So I will be nannied until the age of 90, eating only approved healthy food and doing no activity that may be in some way risky?

If we are going to ban dangerous things which people do for no reason other than they enjoy it, should we go after scuba diving and mountain climbing too after we ban Snickers?

[aisengard]

The government does have the power to regulate what you do with your body when your body interacts with the public. Cigarettes are rightly banned in enclosed spaces and shared public spaces. Alcohol is rightly banned if you combine it with operating heavy machinery. I agree that drug use should be decriminalized (complex topic), and that the outright banning of sugary products is a dumb idea.

[dj_mc_merlin]

> The government does have the power to regulate what you do with your body when your body interacts with the public.

I agree, and think this is probably for the best. My opinion is that these laws are rightful when the interaction is direct and obvious. If I smoke in enclosed spaces, I am directly increasing other peoples' chance of cancer, giving them no choice over their bodies. This is analogous to how one's freedom to move their body doesn't extend to hitting other people in the face.

I do not agree with the government imposing restriction based on indirect, ambigous harm, like the "harm to society" that drinking sugary drinks which might lead to obesity causes. Harm to society has been used to justify a myriad of harmful policies. Unless there is a very clear, direct link between an action and harm to a person, the government has no business stepping in.

(Of course, this is all just my opinion, I'm presenting this as a justification for my viewpoint.)

[smt88]

> The danger is not in banning products with added sugar, but in the government having the power to regulate what one may do with one's body.

But... that's not what Mexico's proposal is. It's also not the goal of any of these public health bans.

The goal of the bans is to prevent people from selling and profiting from unhealthy products. It doesn't stop individuals from producing and consuming whatever they want.

[dj_mc_merlin]

How are you going to produce a KitKat?

[kube-system]

I think the person you are responding to is calling prohibitionism dangerous, not this consequences of this particular proposal.

[ntsplnkv2]

It's a deeply unpopular opinion.

Healthy and unhealthy people alike like sweets. Just because some abuse it doesn't mean an outright ban is in order. And why stop at sugar?