All you non-smokers out there that are apathetic to smoker's rights take notice. The pleasure police are out to take away your soft drinks next.

A study in India claims that there is a correlation between esophageal cancer and drinking soft drinks.

In the study, researchers cited U.S. data that showed per capita consumption of carbonated drinks rose by more than 450 percent from 1974 to 2000, from 10.8 gallons on average to 49.2 gallons in 2000. During that same period, the incidence rates of esophageal cancer rose by more than 570 percent in white American men.

Of course there is no proof of a causal link. Hell, they didn't even look to see if those that had esophageal cancer were even drinking more soda than usual. They simply saw a correlation in the numbers and deduced that there must be a link.

[Dr. Richard Adamson, vice president of scientific and technical affairs for the National Soft Drink Association] says that because study authors didn't dig further to see if those diagnosed with the cancer also drank the beverage, asserting that sodas may cause esophageal cancer is a considerable reach. According to Adamson, people also ate more pizzas over that time span; cell phone and computer use skyrocketed as well. And yet, he points out, researchers didn't correlate those behaviors with esophageal cancer.

Yeah, I know the guy works for the soft drink companies but he raises a valid point. And research like this is used by the pleasure police to take away our favorite vices all the time. One thing I'm sure the researcher will conclude is that he needs more money for more research.

(I wonder if I can sue my employer for not letting me drink beer instead of soda during the day.)