Begin Rant.

I'm very annoyed lately with all this talk of a "fat tax". America does have a serious obesity problem, but taxing regular (no-diet) sodas is not the way to go. I don't drink nearly as much soda as I used to, but when I do drink soda, I do not drink diet. Not because I want to be fat, not because regular tastes better, but because I don't have a choice. I am allergic. If I were to drink a diet coke the nutra-sweet in it would send me straight to the emergency room. Nutra-sweet allergies really aren't that uncommon, so it doesn't seem fair to tax only sodas that aren't diet.

Even if your not allergic to nutrasweet, do you know what you're ingesting? Aspertame (the chemical in Nutra-sweet) is 10% methanol. Methanol can in be lethal in high doses. The human body breaks down methanol into formaldehyde (embalming fluid) & formic acid (same chemical as fire ant venom). There is also the fact that the FDA denied approval for Aspertame for eight years. Even when it was approved, it was against the recommendations of many in the scientific and medical communities.

The side effects of aspertame are cumulative, and take a long time to see. WHich is why its being overshadowed by all the americans getting fat off corn syrup.

I've got an idea. How about we tax ALL soda. And just drink water instead.

Rant over.