In recent years, America has waged an all-out war against smoking. Companies have long been banned from advertising on TV, smoking bans have become nearly universal and the excise tax placed on cigarettes has been steadily increasing. The reason behind the war on smoking has always been a simple one: public health. Smoking causes a long list of preventable diseases and accounts for 440,00 deaths a year, according to the surgeon general.

At first glance the fight to end smoking seems justified, and the public's desire to save me from my nearly inevitable death by lung cancer seems an altruistic, even noble one. Until we examine America's battle against preventable disease closer, and realize that while tobacco has been continually regulated, America's food industry has been allowed to destroy the health of millions of Americans. Every year 300,000 people die as a result of obesity-related illnesses. Despite claiming the lives of nearly as many people as the tobacco industry, there have been few serious attempts to regulate the food industry's aggressive marketing of unhealthy food.

America's obesity epidemic is nearly three times as widespread as smoking. According to the surgeon general, 66 percent of American adults are overweight, and only 21 percent of Americans smoke, according to a Gallup poll. This means while America's food industry makes billions selling grease and sugar-filled food, two thirds of our population is at an increased risk for heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Worse yet, children have been a frequent target of fast food and junk food advertising. Today one third of preschool age children are overweight, according to the surgeon general.

If we are going to allow the U.S. government to regulate industry and consumer spending in one industry in the name of public health, then the government needs to do so to the food industry, as well. It is absurd to force me to pay $2 in tax for a pack of cigarettes, but allow me to buy a McChicken dripping with grease for a dollar. Since it is certain the government will never give up the billions they make off cigarettes, we should begin taxing unhealthy foods.

If a large sin tax were placed on foods that contain above a certain number of calories, the effect on America's eating habits would be evident nearly overnight. If a BigMac suddenly cost $8, and items on the dollar menu doubled in price, Americans would very quickly start shifting toward a healthier diet.

The real effect, however, would come at the corporate level. If it was no longer financially profitable for American restaurants to sell this food, they would quickly begin marketing healthy alternatives. Dollar menus might quickly fill up with turkey sandwiches, salads and vegetables that weren't deep fried.

A second, and perhaps even more important, way the handling of the food industry needs to mirror that of the big tobacco is they absolutely cannot be allowed to continue marketing to children. Can you imagine a world where a clown told children they got a free Avatar toy when they bought a pack of Marlboros?

Unfortunately, the effects of Ronald McDonald on today's children may be no less severe if he were selling smokes instead of hamburgers. By getting children hooked on unhealthy foods, corporations know they destine them to a life of preventable disease, but more importantly, brand loyalty and revenue. We cannot continue to allow these corporations to make billions by selling food that amounts to poison to millions of American children. Companies that sell unhealthy food need to be banned from targeting children, just as tobacco companies have been.