Stephen Mihm: America’s corn syrup addiction began with deceit

Stephen Mihm: America’s corn syrup addiction began with deceit

Trivia quiz: What do Japan’s Fermentation Research Institute, Secretary of Agriculture Earl “Rusty” Butz and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan have in common? Answer: Each, in their way, helped foster America’s widespread adoption of high fructose corn syrup, the sweetener that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has vowed to ban. The country’s dependence on corn syrup is the product of historical events that look like raw material for a Th…