Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World Essay Example

Introduction

The food industry is a multi-billion business which employs many people and generates a lot of income. In the modern-day society, people are doing anything they can whether legal or illegal in the pursuit of money. The food industry has not been left out of this fraud. Some food, medical and pharmaceutical industries have been found to be using ingredients that are toxic to the human body which leads to consumers suffering from various ailments. Some of these industries operate with impunity due to the influence their have because of their financial power. This essay will analyze a film `Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World' by Brackett to show how aspartame in the coke diet and other drinks is detrimental to our bodies and the effects it can have. The film will cite some examples of the impact of the use of aspartame including the one of the narrator herself, who lost the power to talk, see and walk because of the use of aspartame in the coke diet. Finally, the film will demonstrate how these industries operate with impunity because they can manipulate the authorities due to their immense financial powers

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Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World

In the film, the narrator Cori Brackett had cause and effect and a strange experience with the coke diet which was her favorite drink for several years. The film is under the genre of music and performing arts. After some time he got disabled and was unable to walk and speak, she was diagnosed with MS. Though later she slowly regained her ability to speak and walk she firmly believes that her predicament was due to the aspartame drink she has taking (Cori, 2004). Her condition worsened to the extent that her speech was blurred, the limbs became weak and her vision impaired. She was forced to use a wheelchair. She spent more than a decade in that condition. After coming across an article talking about the aspartame in the diet coke, she immediately quit using the product. Immediately after some time of stopping using the product, most of the symptoms disappeared. Currently, she is free of the symptoms and carrying on with her life without any problems. The evidence that Brackett gives in her film has the backing of two medical consultants and a psychologist. Compelling evidence that the narrator uses comes from Dr. Betty, who has been researching the effects of aspartame for more than 12 years across the globe (Cori, 2004). Therefore, her claims are so authoritative to a level where no counterclaim can match them.

The film makes a revelation of corporate negligence since the tobacco negligence scandal. The documentary urges the viewers of the film to take into consideration the potential effects of the additives found in everyday foods. According to Brackett, research has shown that the NutraSweet's sugar substitute and in other diet drinks such as aspartame have the potential of causing the toxic reactions in the human body which can cause different mental and physical illnesses. In asserting his claim that aspartame is toxic, she gives compelling evidence that the drink is a dangerous phenomenon (Cori, 2004). The elimination of aspartame would be vital in the improvement of one's health. The film is an eye-opener to those who mind about their health and the health of their loved ones. The narrator goes further to say that the sweetener industry dismisses the effects of the drinks as a 'hoax.' (Mason, 1996). However, this documentary brings out the necessary evidence to a level where it cannot be declared a hoax.

The complaints lodged against aspartame represent 80-85% of all the complaints in the food industry. Despite the compelling evidence that the chemical sweetener has adverse effects on the human body and can cause people to consume more food, still, a lot of people still believe that aspartame is safe for drinking. The national institute of Health gave a list of 167 symptoms attributed to the use of aspartame use, but it remains one of the leading businesses with the multibillion-dollar worth of revenue (Cori, 2004). According to Brackett, the following are some of the effects of aspartame:

• Seizures/epilepsy
• Tumors of the brain
• Congenital disabilities
• Diabetes/ fibromyalgia/ multiple sclerosis/ Parkinson's, Alzheimer's
• Emotional disorders such as anxiety
• Numbness
• Migraines
• Blindness
• Stomach disorder

The human body does not work well with the regular use of sugar and artificial sugars such as aspartame too. Some other resources show that aspartame is likely to be found in more than 9000 products that are consumed. Therefore, aspartame, which is a humanmade sweetener, has become difficult to avoid. For long, the big companies have been using propaganda to ensure that aspartame remains in the market. The aspartame is legal in the United States of America, but the narrator explains how fraudulent means were used by the industry giants to ensure that it is legalized. The film shows how many tons of aspartame is pumped into the United States and other countries globally deliberately, through the highest form of conspiracy (Cori, 2004). The reasons why the medical, food and pharmaceutical industries are doing everything they can to ensure that aspartame remains in the market so that they can continue making profits ( Cori,2004). Generally, the film shows that human beings sometimes do not mind and their fellow beings but their primary interest is to make profits and accrue as much wealth as possible.

Hedonism Theory

Hedonism school of thought argues that the pursuit of essential things and pleasure are the most critical goals of human beings. Hedonists aim to maximize pleasure. However, after attaining the pleasure, the happiness sometimes stagnates. The hedonists believe that human beings have all the rights to seek happiness and pleasure in the world and avoid any form of pain to them without minding of the rest of the people (Onfray, 2015). The hedonist theory was formulated by Cyrene who was a student of Socrates. The theory is in agreement with what is in the film by Brackett. In the film, the multinational companies that manufacture aspartame are not concerned about the health effects of the substance. Their primary goal is to use any available means including compromising the authorities to ensure that the product is in the market so that they can continue making profits and enjoys themselves. The profits they make and the joy that they drive from it because they can use the funds for pleasurable activities is equated to the pleasure that is described by the hedonist theory. The primary focus of these industries is to make money which can bring pleasure. They have gone to the extent of using fraudulent means and compromising the authorities to legalize the substance and ensure that it remains in the market without due consideration of its effects to the consumers (Onfray, 2015). It turns out to be the men eat man society.

Social Contract Theory

This is a description theory which vividly explains the kind of relationships existing between the society and the laws and rules governing that society. According to Thomas Hobbes, who was the formulator of the theory, any society that does not live by its laws and rules would be a dangerous place to live. He referred the society which does not follow its laws like the one living in a state he referred to as `natural. 'He said that in such state individuals would behave in any way their want because they are nobody they are accountable to (Moehler, 2018). This is the kind of life that was described by Charles Darwin where the fittest survive and the weak die.

The contract theory is a revelation of the real society where those who are politically connected and the ones who have vast sums of money act as if they are above the laws. The theory fits well to the case of 'Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World' where the industrial giants that have substantial financial resources are breaking laws blatantly merely because they have the money and the influence of ensuring that things go their ways. The firms are still using aspartame as an ingredient to their products despite the compelling evidence from the experts that the product is toxic and can cause devastating consequences as it happened to Brackett (Lazari & Singer, 2014). However, irrespective of the complaints because they are dominant in the society, they have continued to carry on with the illegalities as they continue to accumulate wealth (Moehler, 2018). Wealth creation takes precedence.

Divine Command Theory

The divine theory states that what is described as moral is equal to what God Commanded. The theory goes further to state that for one to be moral has to follow the commands of God. The teachings of the theory are that good moral are not independent of God, and the determinant of morality is the divine command. In other words the command of God is the only reason that makes a good action moral, Therefore, the theory posits that those people who do good are in conformity to what God ants and the ones who do things that are morally bad are against the desires and their actions are not linked to God in any way. The theory is in agreement with the content in the film because their actions of selling drinks with aspartame which is toxic are not moral and therefore they are not commanded by God. They, therefore, derive their immoral actions of selling toxic products to unsuspecting consumers from other sources apart from God (Zagzebski, 2004). Their businesses and actions are therefore not sanctioned by God.

Conclusion

The food industry forms an integral part of the society because the society consumes its products. It is therefore essential that the authorities ensure that the food and related products that are manufactured by these firms meet the standards set and do not have adverse effects on its consumers. If the authorities had done that the victims such as Brackett would not have found herself in a situation of being incapacitated for a decade because of using the diet coke which had aspartame as one of its primary ingredients. The industries need to operate within the required health, ethical and moral standards so that the consumers are not harmed.

References

Cori, B. (2004). Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World. Retrieved fromhttps://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/02/06/sweet-misery-a-poisoned-world-you-can-finally-view-

Lazari-Radek, K. ., & Singer, P. (2014). The point of view of the universe: Sidgwick and contemporary ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Mason, H. E. (1996). Moral Dilemmas and Moral Theory. New York: Oxford University Press.

Moehler, M. (2018). Minimal morality: A multilevel social contract theory Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press,

Onfray, M. (2015). A hedonist manifesto: The power to exist. New York: Columbia University Press

Zagzebski, L. T. (2004). Divine motivation theory. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.