Why Talking About Sugar Could Get You Sued (YouTube Video Transcript)

(00:00:00) Your YouTube transcript will appear here (00:00:00) Right now, they are trying to ban us (00:00:03) from telling the truth about sugar. What (00:00:05) if just saying sugar is harmful could (00:00:08) actually get you sued? It's not because (00:00:10) it's not true. It's because a powerful (00:00:13) industry does not like criticism. What (00:00:15) I'm going to talk about might sound (00:00:17) completely unbelievable, but there is a (00:00:20) bill right now that they're trying to (00:00:22) pass that if it goes through is going to (00:00:24) be disastrous. Okay? not just about (00:00:27) sugar, about a lot of other things that (00:00:30) are harmful to us. This is not about a (00:00:32) food safety law. This is about a speech (00:00:35) law. It controls who is allowed to (00:00:38) criticize agriculture and who isn't. And (00:00:41) it uses something called defamation as a (00:00:44) weapon. Florida already has a law that (00:00:47) allows farmers to sue someone who (00:00:49) spreads false information about food. (00:00:51) This is sometimes called food liel or (00:00:54) food disparagement. The original idea (00:00:56) was simple. Don't lie about fresh (00:00:58) produce and destroy the farmer's (00:00:59) livelihood. At least that's how it was (00:01:02) sold to the public, but that's not how (00:01:04) it's being used. Certain investigative (00:01:06) journalists uncovered internal documents (00:01:08) from large agriculture and chemical (00:01:10) companies, and in those documents showed (00:01:12) the real goal, which had nothing to do (00:01:14) with protecting farmers, and instead it (00:01:16) had everything to do with what to do (00:01:18) with critics, environmental groups, (00:01:21) journalists, activists, scientists. The (00:01:24) strategy was to make lawsuits so (00:01:25) expensive, so unpredictable that people (00:01:27) would stop talking about it, even if (00:01:30) they were right. The term for this is (00:01:32) called chilling free speech. Here is (00:01:35) where the current bill becomes very (00:01:37) dangerous. The old law only applied to (00:01:40) perishable foods because it limited the (00:01:43) law to things like fruits and vegetables (00:01:46) that spoil quickly. So, it kept it very (00:01:49) narrow. The new bill removes the word (00:01:52) perishable. That one little tiny change (00:01:56) quietly expands the law to all (00:02:01) agricultural products, including sugar. (00:02:05) But it goes further. The bill also adds (00:02:07) a new phrase, any agricultural practice (00:02:11) used in production. That means criticism (00:02:15) of pesticides, (00:02:17) insecticides, fungicides, fertilizer, (00:02:20) chemical runoff, water contamination, (00:02:23) all now can be treated as disparagement. (00:02:27) I mean, everyone knows that excessive (00:02:29) sugar is bad for the body, right? (00:02:31) Insulin resistance, fatty liver, chronic (00:02:33) inflammation, type 2 diabetes. This is (00:02:35) not just opinion. This is an established (00:02:37) fact. But if this bill goes through and (00:02:39) someone speaks out about sugar or (00:02:42) pesticides or whatever on how it can (00:02:45) affect your health or how it's even (00:02:48) produced, even if it's truthful, a (00:02:52) powerful company could sue you. And so (00:02:54) now that puts an activist or an (00:02:57) influencer who's talking about sugar in (00:03:00) a situation where now they have to pay (00:03:02) for legal costs. But not only that, if (00:03:04) they lose the case, now that individual (00:03:07) has to then pay the other attorney's (00:03:10) fees. Now, this bill is coming out of (00:03:12) Florida, okay? But even if you don't (00:03:14) live in Florida, this matters because (00:03:16) Florida crops are sold nationwide. Legal (00:03:19) experts warn that this could open the (00:03:21) door to lawsuits that go way beyond the (00:03:23) state. And this sets a very dangerous (00:03:26) precedent. Florida already has (00:03:28) defamation laws and we absolutely do not (00:03:31) need more special legal protection for (00:03:34) powerful industries like the sugar (00:03:36) industry, like the pesticide industry. (00:03:39) And then what happens is you can't (00:03:40) debate these things because the threat (00:03:43) of a lawsuit or a threat of some type of (00:03:46) punishment. So when I first saw this (00:03:47) bill, I was like, what the heck are they (00:03:50) doing now? If you live in Florida, or (00:03:52) even if you don't live in Florida, you (00:03:55) have to help fight this because if this (00:03:57) bill goes through, think about what the (00:04:00) ultrarocessed food companies can get (00:04:02) away with. The chemical companies are (00:04:04) going to be able to get away with. (00:04:05) They're protected against anyone (00:04:07) criticizing them. Now, this bill on the (00:04:09) outside has the appearance that it's (00:04:13) just there to help support the farmers, (00:04:16) but if you read between the lines, the (00:04:17) law is designed to silence the critics. (00:04:20) And once free speech to silence, public (00:04:22) health is next. I mean, this is a pretty (00:04:24) smart thing that these big companies are (00:04:26) doing. If they can get this passed, they (00:04:29) get so much protection against (00:04:31) criticism. So, when I was looking at (00:04:33) this, I'm like, what is this playbook (00:04:36) called? Well, it's actually called (00:04:37) weaponized defamation law, or another (00:04:40) name for it is using lawsuits to silence (00:04:43) criticism. So I think a lot of (00:04:45) influencers, (00:04:46) activists, (00:04:48) scientists would literally be very quiet (00:04:51) because the amount of money that you (00:04:52) would be sued for would literally drain (00:04:54) your resources. So if you have the same (00:04:57) viewpoint I have, ultrarocessed food is (00:05:00) responsible for 80% of chronic disease. (00:05:04) I highly recommend you click the link (00:05:07) down below where you can actually sign (00:05:08) up on a petition. If you live in (00:05:10) Florida, you can call your local (00:05:12) representative and complain. But we need (00:05:14) to make a lot of noise right now because (00:05:17) if this bill goes through, it's going to (00:05:19) be devastating for our children, for (00:05:22) their grandkids, and for us as well. So, (00:05:25) please click the link down below and (00:05:28) let's all work together to defeat this