Mansour Id-Deen, President of the Berkeley chapter of the NAACP, says his family has a life-threatening crisis with diabetes as a result of too many sugar sweetened beverages, and that this an all to common situation in this country.
In an op-ed published on Berkeleyside, Id-Deen argues that we are facing an urgent and preventable health crisis and action is needed now.
“Nationally, one in three of our children are projected to get Type 2 diabetes in their lifetimes, a figure that rises to one in two among African-American and Latino people,” he writes. “Additionally, in Berkeley, African-Americans are four times more likely to have been diagnosed with diabetes and fourteen times more likely to be hospitalized.”
Id-Deen supports Measure D, the so-called soda tax on Berkeley’s November ballot, because, he says, it takes this fight to its source.
Do you agree or not? Join the conversation by leaving a comment on Id-Deen’s op-ed published in Berkeleyside’s Opinionator section.
Berkeleyside welcomes submissions of op-ed articles. We ask that we are given first refusal to publish. Topics should be Berkeley-related, local authors are preferred, and we don’t publish anonymous pieces. Please email submissions to us. Berkeleyside will publish op-ed pieces at its discretion.
