Target: sugar producers

Now there is a direct biochemical link between fructose consumption and adult-onset diabetes (h/t:  Futurepundit).

Fructose sweetener is largely made by a few corporate megaliths like ADM, but it would have no market if it was not for quotas on imported sugar.  Cane and beet growers have long lobbied for limits on imports to keep US prices high and their operations profitable.  In response, US sugar consumers (like the candy business) have been leaving.  The economic cost of subsidies for uncompetitive growers and loss of jobs is now joined by the cost of damage to human health.  Isn't it about time they got sued?

I'm not a fan of class-action suits, but this is a clear-cut case where a very few powerful actors have jeopardized the welfare of tens of millions of people for their own profit.  The Congress will not fix this; it was bought off long ago.  If any branch of government can fix this, it will be the courts.

¶ 12/21/2005 11:33:00 AM