Lethal Carbonated Weapon

Coca-Cola, the silent killer, “reports” — but of course — CNN:

Sugar-sweetened beverages are linked to more than 180,000 obesity-related deaths worldwide each year, according to new research presented this week at an American Heart Association conference.

“This means about one in every 100 deaths from obesity-related diseases is caused by drinking sugary beverages,” says study author Gitanjali Singh, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Among the world’s 35 largest countries, Mexico had the highest death rates from sugary drinks, and Bangladesh had the lowest, according to the study. The United States ranked third.

However, the American Beverage Association dismissed the research as “more about sensationalism than science.”

Gee, ya think? Statistically, it’s almost the same as the number of deaths caused by global warming — or the lack thereof, as John Nolte responds at Big Journalism:

According to the CIA World Factbook, the annual worldwide death rate is 8.37 per 1000. With a worldwide population of around seven billion, that means that every year around 60 million people die. If you divide 180,000 soda-caused deaths into 60 million total deaths, the answer is a statistical zero.

The only thing “staggering” is that like the fraud that is Global Warming, the media is now jumping on this new anti-science train only because leftists love to control our lives. They also see a potential new source of tax revenue, similar to the tobacco suits of the 1990s. But like the tobacco suits, the result will only be an increase in the price of a product people who don’t work in media enjoy.

The real hypocrisy of CBS News and its leftist ilk is that they apparently have no desire to stigmatize other forms of behavior that kill many more people.

Alcohol kills 2.5 million worldwide per year. But leftists enjoy Long Island Ice Tea and wine, so alcohol is not a target.

AIDS kills 1.7 million worldwide per year. But leftists enjoy loveless sex, so no one is trying to ban that.

Another argument the left uses against soda is the cost of obesity to taxpayers in the form of higher health bills. First off, I’m willing to pay for liberty. Secondly, few “lifestyle choices” cost the taxpayers more than unwed motherhood, but again you don’t see the left attempting to ban sex.

This soda attack is no different than the left’s push to ban certain guns. The elitist, provincial media doesn’t drink soda or shoot guns, so they want bans.

Guns you say? Clearly, that 7-11 Big Gulp is a gateway drug into the world of guns and bloo0d-splattered violence, as the Washington Post claimed in 2011:

Teenagers who drink soda are more likely to carry a weapon and act violently, according to new research.

Sara J. Solnick of the University of Vermont and David Hemenway of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston analyzed data collected from 1,878 14- to 18-year-olds in grades nine through 12 in 22 public schools in 2008.

Those who drank five or more cans of non-diet soft drinks every week were significantly more likely to have also consumed alcohol and smoked cigarettes at least once in the previous month, the researchers found.

Moreover, even after taking other factors into consideration such as age, gender and alcohol consumption, the researchers found that heavy use of carbonated non-diet soft drinks was significantly associated with carrying a gun or knife and violence towards peers, family and partners.

It’s enough to make you think that soda was more dangerous than terrorism, as our illustrious vice president apparently believes:

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Of course, these days, even Bill Maher. pictured in the above video from 2007 can (sometimes) see how silly such talk makes him and his fellow liberals appear:

Bill Maher blasted New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg Friday saying, “There is something wrong about the 7th richest person in the world, lying in bed at night saying, ‘You know what people shouldn’t do? Drink too much Sprite. And I’m going to make that a law.'” Last week, state Supreme Court Judge, Justice Milton Tingling struck down Mayor Bloomberg’s soda ban.

Setting himself apart from many Liberals who actually applaud Mayor Bloomberg’s aggressive efforts to curb obesity, Maher went so far as to declare his stance against Bloomberg’s soda ban saying, “I am for overturning this ban, I think this is what makes liberals look bad. This is what makes liberals look like elitist bullies who think they know everything and can tell people what to do.”

Or to put it another way, ““Everything comes down to the movie ‘Footloose.’ For a large majority of people, the political question is, ‘How would the sanctimonious preacher from the movie ‘Footloose’ feel about this subject?’ They answer the question, and then take the opposite position.”

Lest you wind up producing a Reefer Madness-style episode of Law & Order: SVU on…The Dangers of Big Soda:

Davy’s Mother: Davy was 12 when he took his life. I tried to make him stop with the cola.  But he was addicted to it.
Det. Benson [slowly, with furrowed brow]: Soda made him kill himself.
Davy’s Mother: I collected all the research. High-fructose corn syrup can make you obese. And obesity can make you depressed.
Det. Benson: And depression can lead to suicide.

Somewhere, Jack Webb is lighting up a Lucky and laughing his badge off right now.

(H/T: RB)