Matthew Guthrie’s Aug. 2 letter to the editor, in which he uses the example of overweight workers taking a cigarette break to argue that personal choice is the driving factor in poor health, belies the many complex obstacles affecting the health of lower- and working-class people.

Healthful food is often expensive and takes time and foreknowledge to prepare. Somebody working double shifts at a restaurant and struggling to care for a family has little time to spare, and processed foods, filled with corn syrup, are much more readily available.

Similarly, exercise routines take time that many working people do not have. Many low-income people also have limited access to health care and so lack the regular guidance of a physician, nutritionist, dentist or other professional. Junk food and cigarettes are all too often a way of coping with long hours at a demeaning job that offers little opportunity for advancement, and both of these products are heavily marketed to low-income people, as there is a hugely profitable industry based on keeping people unhealthy.

Each of these obstacles might be overcome through willpower, but together can become demoralizing and debilitating, and it is easy to take the path of least resistance when life is hard. Blaming individuals does not help anyone.

I would ask Guthrie if he wants to be part of the problem, blaming the working poor for their poor health, or part of the solution, helping to heal the class divide and fight for policies that improve quality of life for working people.

Martin Chartrand

Brewer