Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Sugar drink ban in Boston is unwise

I emailed the following to Mayor Thomas of Boston, Massachusetts:

Dear Mayor Thomas:

Two points: First, banning the sale of beverages with sugar in them restricts the choice of consumers who are not all necessarily interested in drinking something during lunch and breaks that doesn't taste good to them. By banning the sale of these drinks, Boston is sending a message that consumers should be treated like children or cattle to be managed. This is not a good idea if you want Boston to be represented as a city that welcomes visitors to its government facilities. It's really an act of overt hostility to commerce, to city workers, to voters, to private citizens and to tourists.

Second, has anyone considered that there are people with special medical needs, such as insulin-dependent diabetes, who occasionally need a shot of sugar delivered in liquid form to, for instance, recover from accidental overdoses of insulin? I've seen this happen for myself, and in that situation a very fast acting sugar beverage saved a man's life. By banning these drinks the city of Boston may have irresponsibly created a danger of insulin shock or a similar medical crisis potentially killing someone unable to consume enough sugar in time to avert disaster. Boston may have opened itself up to significant liability in this issue.

Yours,

Harry A. Van Twistern
St. Petersburg, FL