A Lost Chapter of History
Other than gold no single substance has had a greater hand in shaping the history - and influencing politics - in the western hemisphere than sugar.

In 1759, during the Seven Year's War, England captured Canada, Guadeloupe and Martinique from France. The two 'sugar' islands (Guadelope and Martinique) were among France's most valuable possessions. During the negotiations for peace in 1763 England agreed to give back some of the captured territories.

Canada was no economic match for the highly prized Caribbean islands. Guadeloupe alone produced forty-three times more revenue than Canada, a backwater land with a struggling fur trade. Even France didn't want it back.

Alderman 'Sugar Cane' Beckford was rumoured to be one of the richest men in the world.

England's powerful sugar lobby was led by Alderman William Beckford, a man of immense wealth. He felt that the French sugar islands would increase competition with his own sugar growing business. Beckford and his associates wielded an enormous influence on the government to ensure that they would get the outcome they wanted.

In the end, the British parliament choose to keep Canada. France celebrated saying that England had traded sugar for snow.

Denis Vaugeios, former Quebec cultural affairs minister, has researched this little known story of Canada's past. "When we look into history a little bit, sometimes we search for complex explanations, we search for heroes, we search for all sorts of complex, learned explanations. The truth is often very simple."

Environmentalists claim that sugar production has ruined the ecosystem in the Florida Everglades.

A Sugar Dynasty in the U.S.
The powerful sugar lobby continues to exert an influence in politics today. In the U.S. the sugar industry's power is concentrated in the Florida Everglades, home to three big sugar plantations.

Environmentalists have accused the sugar industry of despoiling the land and polluting the environment there. Water running off from the farms is high in phosphorus and, environmentalists say, has pushed the ecosystem of Florida Bay into crisis.

One of big sugar plantations is owned by the Fanjul's, a sugar growing family exiled from Cuba. The two brothers, Jose Pepe and Alfie, give generously to both political parties.

Pepe Fanjul says the media is biased with regards to his business practices. "You are trying to say look at the way Fanjul lives and he has a nice car and the Florida Crystals building. That's you're story. You have written it. Nothing I can do about it."

The Sugar Tax
In 1996 vice-president Al Gore proposed a one cent a pound tax to clean up the Florida Everglades. Hours later a furious Fanjul phoned Bill Clinton at the White House interrupting him during a visit with his mistress Monica Lewinsky. The proposed tax was dropped.

During the 2004 campaign both parties received 3.1 million in campaign contributions from the sugar industry. Congress voted for a 1.4 billion dollar subsidy. The Fanjul's share is said to be $65 million, after having donated $450,000 to the candidates.

Author Hiaasen has been an outspoken critic of the sugar industry. "That's what it's all about in this country is how much money you can generate for a candidate and that's what gets you in the door. That's what gets your phone call answered when you're the President and you're in the middle of a romantic assignation in the Oval Office."

Congressman Dan Miller: "I'm not sure why they changed, I know a lot of media were questioning them on it. Money buys influence in Washington, there's no question about it."

The Sugar Subsidy
Almost all of the sugar produced in Florida is sold in the U.S. at three time the price the rest of the world pays for sugar. Critics say the U.S. government allows the domestic sugar industry to maintain a monopoly. Cheaper sugar produced in poorer countries is kept out.

Republican congressman Dan Miller from Florida has vowed to end the subsidy to sugar producers. In 2001 he co-sponsored a bill that would bring about an end to the program (see the bill). But on the day of the vote, five of his co-sponsors voted against the bill at the last minute.

One billion people in the world are overweight - eighteen million of them are under the age of five.

Sugar is a key suspect in the crisis. Statistics show that each person in the western world consumes the equivalent of more than their weight in sugar each year.

Much of the sugar we eat is hidden in processed food. It's added to over 10,000 products including peanut butter, bread, yogurt, hot dogs, bacon, soup, cough drops, pickles, salami, soya milk, clamato juice, soya sauce, english muffins, ketchup, baked beans and baby food.

Liquid Candy
And the foods that we know are high in sugar often contain shocking levels. The average sized soft drink has a whopping twelve to fifteen spoons of sugar. The Centre for Science in the Public Interest calls soft drinks 'liquid candy'. (read their report)

Soda pops are often marketed towards children who now drink twice as much of it as milk - a complete reversal since the 1950's.

North Americans drink five hundred percent more pop since 1950. More than fifty percent of teenagers now consume at least one soft drink a day, some up to three.

Marion Nestle, a nutritional scientist says this is a boon to the sugar industry. "The idea that coke is priced less than water just gives the whole show away and that has to do with enormously successful industry lobbying."

But the sugar industry says that there is nothing wrong with their product and that there is no scientific proof that too much sugar makes people fat. Their experts claim that the origins of obesity are much more complex.

Dr. Adeli believes that a high sugar diet is bad for your health. "Our conclusion is that clearly fructose is a major contributor to the current epidemic of obesity and early-onset diabetes."

Studies link Sugar to Obesity and Diabetes
A recent Harvard medical school study showed that the sugar in one can a day is enough to add four kilos or ten pounds of body fat a year. Drinking more than one can a day increases the chance of obesity by sixty percent.

Dr. Adeli, a scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children, is seeing a disturbing trend: a significant increase in the amount of children with obesity and type-2 diabetes. Diabetes now kills more the 3.2 million people a year and is a major cause of blindness, kidney loss and cardiovascular disease. The younger the disease develops, the greater the risk of complications.

Critics say that children are being ruthlessly marketed by the sugar industry at an early age. A World Health Organization report shows that eighteen million children under the age of five are now overweight.

Nicholas Dodds and his father wanted to remove vending machines in Ontario schools. "I don't want to have my mental space interrupted by their advertising garbage all day."

Soda Pop in Schools
Nicholas Dodds, a student at York Regional became concerned about the 'cola commercialization' in his school. He wanted to get the cola vending machines removed and was shocked to learn that his school board had a contract with Pepsi.

He petitioned Ontario's privacy commissioner to force the school to disclose the contracts and was successful. The media picked up the story and in the aftermath Ontario banned soda pop machines in elementary schools. It was a small battle won.

The Ten Percent Recommendation
In 2003 the UN asked a panel of the world's top nutritionists to determine a safe level of sugar in diet. The WHO report, called 9-16, recommended a safe level of ten percent - about the amount of sugar in a single can of pop. Current statistics from many countries show a sugar consumption almost double that, much of it from soft drinks. The report also recommended that the sugar industry should not be allowed to market to children.

Dr. Kaare Norum chairs a team of the world's top nutritionists. "Big Sugar has played a tremendous bad guy role. They are very influential in the U.S. where the sugar industry is high politics."

Marion Nestle believes that the sugar industy was concerned. If people do something about obesity, they'll eat less sugar and that would be bad for business. "They argue in all of the ways that tobacco companies argue that tobacco is a perfectly okay product and they argue personal responsibility in the same way. They behave like big tobacco they need to be treated like big tobacco."

She say, maybe its today's consumers who are the slaves - to a sugar-based diet.