[Editor's note: Little more than an hour after ACSH president Dr. Elizabeth Whelan appeared on the Today show this morning to condemn the idea of a "fat tax" on certain foods, letter writer Aaron Sugarman sent in the following lengthy condemnation. We salute Sugarman's speed and his passion for the issue. TS]
Dr. Whelan,
It is shameful that you would use your position in what I consider to be the pseudo-science, or junk-science, community to attempt to discredit true scientific reality.
You are thoroughly disappointing as a human being.
I want you to think about your behavior and ask yourself what did you say that actually helped people?
Instead, you spent your time defending a multi-billion dollar business designed to replace healthy calories and nutrients from natural foods, scientifically appropriate for the human body, with heat-altered, chemical-laden, empty non-food products designed to be addictive taste-sensation producers and pleasure-center triggers. Drugs.
Junk food is a drug.
The human body, evolved in nature over millions of years, does not want junk food. The stomach does not crave digesting junk food.
You are either insane, dumb, or intentionally malicious.
You have discredited your alma maters and your institution.
You discredit the word science.
You are either completely brainwashed, closed-minded, in a trance state, and thoroughly ignorant of true science, or you are being paid off by the junk food manufacturers.
Either way, you have no place educating the American public, discouraging them from making smart choices.
Shame on you!
Eating too much and not exercising causes obesity. Try eating too many avocados and oranges and see if you get obese.
How simplistic and stupid can you be? What a waste of time you are!
You are absurd, and fortunately you came across as such when compared to the intelligent, compassionate statements of [Brooklyn Democratic Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, who favors a "fat tax" and partly blames Chicken McNuggets for his own weight]. Still, your misuse of the word science, and the misuse of your position, should be criminal.
Your behavior may have stopped people from making smarter choices with their food dollars. Your behavior is now complicit in their self-defeating food habits. YOU contribute to disease and obesity.
You could have used your time to tell the public that our bodies evolved to eat natural foods as did our caveman ancestors and not some heat-processed, chemical-laden, conglomeration of crap that corporations foist on the public like cigarettes.
You could have said that science has no place for junk foods, that there is no proof that the human body thrives on junk foods. You could have said that there is no good in junk foods; they are intended purely to create profit.
A human life is so precious. How can you waste yours with such behavior? Why don't you do something to help people?
Or are you so brainwashed yourself that you believe every word you are saying?
Those of us who now shun junk foods KNOW the scientific reality because we know it instinctually and in our own increasing health. Science merely defends our position.
You don't even think for yourself, it seems.
How can you equate processed white sugar and an orange, or an avocado and heat-altered trans-fatty acids, when scientific reality clearly demonstrates their difference?
There is a reason why zoos feed their animals a diet of their raw natural foods rather than the same pet foods that have produced the need for the veterinary industry, as our pets get sick and obese just like average Americans. [Editor's note: Vets also serve zoos. TS]
There is no scientific basis for eating junk food. There is no scientific basis for the safety of junk food.
The fact that a cookie started out with some bits of grain and processed sugar does not make it equal to an orange and a raw walnut.
The body treats them differently because they are different, and, yes, you can eat a cookie and still walk around breathing, but the body has been insulted.
Your position on television was shameful that you would use your time on that program to discredit a genuine, compassionate attempt to teach human beings just a little bit about their true evolutionary, scientific dietary needs, and instead encourage them to keep eating crap.
Scientifically, human beings are evolved to eat the raw natural foods we find growing and living on earth. Junk food, soda, cookies, and potato chips, or non-food products, that people spend their hard earned money on have no scientific basis in the human body, and their heat-altered fats, processed sugars, and artificial ingredients, are only making the FATcats who own the junk food corporations rich at the expense of the innocent, addicted American public. The FATcats are feeding off the public. It is criminal behavior and SHOULD BE TAXED, if only to create public awareness.
Right now people are brainwashed to eat whatever they find in the store. You have just tried to thwart an attempt to wake them up.
You are just like cigarette defenders.
Honestly, I think your behavior on the Today show bordered on evil, whether conscious or not, due to the potential harm and disregard for human life displayed by your statements.
Junk food is NOT the same as true, natural food. A cookie is not the same as an orange; the human body treats them differently. Science, while not necessary to see reality, proves this.
You are a sham.
I pray for your soul, and I pray you mend your ways.
Sincerely,
Aaron Sugarman