Those who insist on seeing in the anti-smoking and vaccination campaigns of the states a sensitivity and an ignorance on their part for the health of their subjects and not movements of a biopolitical power, can add one more “isolated incident” to the list with the indications of how much the paternal figure of the state cares about them.
It is called the “sugar tax” (sugar tax in English, Zucker-Steuer in German) and the idea is very simple. Since our good subjects, despite our noble health advice, insist on being overweight by consuming unhealthy products, we will make them lose weight by force! Not only will we label the nutritional score (the so-called nutri-score) of a product on its packaging, but those containing excessive amounts of sugar will be taxed more heavily. Just as is done with tobacco.
This was, after all, the proposal of the World Health Organization from 2016. Britain rushed to introduce a relevant law from 2018 that more heavily taxes soft drinks with high sugar content, while related discussions are also taking place in Germany. This is also stated by the researchers. The voluntary reduction of sugar percentages in their products by companies is not effective. The only thing that works is mandatory regulation.
How much time remains until sugar lovers around the world are stigmatized as socially irresponsible individuals who may not even be entitled to all the health benefits previously provided, given that they do not take care of their bodies?
The impressive (or perhaps not so much)? In Germany, the most fanatical supporters of introducing the Zucker-Steuer are the Greens. Who would have imagined a few years ago that the environmental movement would sprout branches that would reach such a state? Dogmatism can also have a green hue. It is, after all, also the color of decay.
(Meanwhile, the nutri-score has great prospects…)