Food, Drink & Tobacco: A Poor Givernment’s Sight For Health, But Great Sight For Profit

 

The epidemic of easily-accessible, 24/7, simple foods is an ever-growing one, expanding wait lines and businesses all around the country. While the fast food has seen an increase in prices, the consumption of them has done anything but slow down. Similar to tobacco, there is a myriad of health issues that arise from fast food, and there is also a major need for government regulation involved. In looking at David Zinczenko’s "Don’t Blame the Eater", Radley Balko’s "What You Eat Is Your Business", and the documentary "What the Health", it is easy to gather that the serious effects of fast food, similar to tobacco, in the various health dangers it carries, as well as how the need for government regulation is imperative for the health and safety of the American people; fast food IS the new tobacco. 

David Zinczenko discusses in his article, “Don’t Blame The Eater”how eating fast food as a youth did not necessarily mean that he was taking into a account all a fo the health risks that could be developed from it. He also arises concerns in regards to the lack of truth and easy communication from fast food companies  to the public about the effects that fast food has. The lack of transparency is concerning, and Zinczenko makes it clear. He greatly shows support for regulation of fast food  through the government, especially now that he is greatly aware fo the dangers that fast food presents; a similar storyline for the use of tabacco. This ties into the common practice in the United States especially wherein more unsafe ingredients, many of which are bioengineered or are gotten from (seemingly) unconventional sources (i.e. Beaver anus, etc.) are used to either enhance appearance, duration of shelf life, or taste of food/drink, due to it having a lower cost than safer, even more natural ingredients, essentially prioritizing profit over protection. Ingredients that have a more harmful effect on the body are generally lower in cost, and in a capitalistic society, that is the main focus at hand when manufacturing food and drink. 

To continue, in the article, “What You Eat Is Your usiness”, Radley Balko provides an interesting yet valuable counterpoint to this argument. Having a strong emphasis on leaving the decisions to the individual, Balko agrees that the individual has the right to be able to freely consume whatever they desire, and that it is the consequences they should be ready to (willingly) face. That being said, not everyone knows what goes into the food, and the process in which the food is made, and therefore, potential deciding factors for some to use when considering consuming certain food are not available for the customer, making a somewhat unfair  argument. Essentially, without knowing all the info, the customer cannot make a fair judgement. This goes beyond simple “ignorance is bliss” and goes more into being misled or lied to means poor health for the sake of profit. Because of this poor governmental leadership, better action should

be taken not only for the American people, but to better represent the United States as a whole to the rest of the world as a nation that prioritizes first the health and wellbeing of its citizens rather than making a profit. 

Yet another piece of media that helps further evaluate the need for better governmental regulation over food and drink consumed by those in the U.S. is the documentary “What The Health?” Continues the aforementioned point of poor governmental regulation, and how it leads to constant and overconsumption of fast food, which, due to poor regulation, is even more detrimental to the body. The documentary focuses on the meat and dairy industries, however the point is still just as clear, highlighting the environmental factors and their effects on the food and drinks consumed by many of those in the U.S. daily. the documentary focuses strongly on the poor living and feeding conditions of chicken, which leads to eating unhealthy meats stuffed with antibiotics, and potentially containing dangerous pathogens not normally found in meat outside of the normallly observed ones. This can be seen today vio the bird flu epidemic and the rising costs of eggs and meat in the U.S. This all ties back into the poor regulation from the government in terms of what is consumed. 

At last, this in turn, connects back to the similarities of the tobacco industry. A poorly-regulated substance which has its dangers overlooked by the government turns out to have a pletheura of harmful (including fatal) effects on humans and the environment (which circles back to negatively effecting humans anyhow). The cheap manufacturing costs are incentive enough to ignore serious health effects, and thus better governmental regulation over both of these industries is imperative for a healthier, easier, and better lifestyle.