The timing of signing the document instructing the reduction of taxation on sweet beverages is obvious. Using a sweet treat, Finance Minister Smotrich thought to himself that he could sweeten the Passover holiday for Israelis. However, Smotrich’s hand, apparently supported by the election promises of the Shas party to the ultra-Orthodox community, was trigger-happy, did not account for health considerations and was intended for purely political purposes.
I doubt that Smotrich or Acting Health Minister Yoav Ben-Tzur are aware of the fact that one in four Israelis suffers from obesity. This is a real plague that can lead to chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, cardiac disease and vascular disease. In many cases, the complications of these diseases can lead to amputation and serious damage to limbs.
In Israel, for each 100,000 diabetes patients, 87.4 limbs are amputated, among the highest rates in the OECD. In the name of a political promise, are the captains of the ship willing for the country’s residents to continue featuring at the top of this dubious list? Is this, in your opinion, a worthy reason for serving another glass of sweet drink?
I have been a scientist for 30 years. I visit hospitals and see the masses of Israel at their most difficult moments. For them, each sip of a sweet beverage, which you have made easier to purchase, accelerates the clock that is ticking for them, marching them on failing and gangrenous legs toward a bitter end.
Nothing sweet will come of this.
Your honors, those who determine fates with the stroke of an irresponsible signature, do you know that studies show that limb amputation candidates would prefer to die rather than lose a limb? Have you studied the advice of the World Health Organization to countries to encourage the taxation of sweet beverages and thus save human lives?
After all, steps have already been taken: For several years, Israelis have been looking at red stickers indicating high sugar levels in products and avoiding them. Studies and surveys show that deterrence has an effect. Why are you ignoring this?
I call upon you as elected officials to visit the hospitals around the country and the clinical research laboratories and see the gloomy picture I am exposed to every day. For example, visit our laboratory at the Laniado Hospital in Netanya. The hospital serves a wide population of ultra-Orthodox citizens whose nutrition is faulty and based on sugars.
You are invited to come and see with your own eyes how people facing limb amputation suffer and not just from the pain resulting from lack of circulation, from gangrenous limbs as a result of the lack of circulation or from wounds that do not heal. These patients are thinking about losing their mobility, their independence and their place of work, becoming a heavy burden on their families and becoming dependent upon them, which is no heart’s desire or sweet dream for them.
In conclusion, I would like to share my sweet ambition. I call upon the current Israeli government to please repent from its intention to reduce the excise on sweet beverages before the coming Passover holiday. Such a beneficial decision has immense future implications.
Human lives and public health are more important than gathering more votes at the polling station. Help me and help the public stand up on their feet, even at the price of my research becoming almost entirely redundant, and that will be sufficient.
The writer, an international scientist, is founder and CEO of BioGenCell, a company that develops innovative stem cell-based medical solutions, which is currently conducting an international clinical experiment aimed at preventing limb amputation.