NYC Board of Health has approved the controversial ban on sale of sugary drinks over 16 ounces. Despite objections (including on this blog) to the measure as the latest example of regulation for the Nanny State, the board passed the ban demanded by Mayor Bloomberg. The board insists that adults and parents cannot be trusted with such decisions and that health demands a ban. You absolutely, positively not order a large sugary drink . . . unless you put alcohol in it.
Ban applies fast-food joints, movie houses, Broadway theaters, workplace cafeterias and virtually everywhere you buy a soda. Of course, this merely means that Bloomberg is going to force you to buy multiple drinks like two eight ounce cups. Then again, you can get around this by adding booze which appears to make an unhealthy drink into a healthy beverage. Both alcoholic and milk-based drinks are exempt.
Moreover, if you derive less than 50% of their revenue from prepared foods — including 7-Eleven with its Big Gulp — can claim exemption. So you can fill up on sugary drinks next door as health inspectors crackdown on your restaurant.
The unanimous vote of this board shows how far we have gone toward the reduction of personal choices in various areas of life. I happen to agree with the board except for its view that it has the authority to make such decisions for people.
Honestly, if prohibition did not work for alcohol, it is likely to be even less successful for sodas. What is unclear is why Bloomberg is not also banning french fries, onion rings, and other unhealthy foods eaten in excessive quantities. How about requiring proof that a large stuffed pizza has no fewer than four persons willing to sign for it? I think people have a right to an unhealthy lifestyle. This is not like second-hand smoke that harms others. You can be around someone with a large soda and remain perfectly healthy.
The fact that there was not a single person on this board willing to vote with individual choice is perhaps the most alarming element of the story in my view.
What do you think?
Source: NY Post
Makes me want to get a ticket on the Mayflower.
Just BAN HFCS. Ban GMOs. Ban CAFO meat. BAN artificial sweeteners.
People were meant to eat real food, not contaminated food like substances. If all these sodas were sweetened with Stevia, there would be no problems. If they were sweetened with real sugar (not from GMO sugar beets) there would be less problems.
But the fact they are sweetened with HFCS (high fructose corn syrup from GMO corn) makes them deadly to your health.
HFCS, now with added Mercury. That should be on the label.
Rafflaw,
Stupid law, good purpose.
Was that not what Turley said about Obama’s constitutional
position? We can violate the constitution if we can claim it is for a good purpose.
I love you Raff. You are so consistent. Won’t say how.
What would I do without you? Don’t feel abused. You amuse. I can’t lose.
Lighten up on your reply. I can hear you gritting your teeth already.
Question: Does this draconian, nanny law apply to diet drinks?
@Turley – can we get a discussion on the recent NDAA decision in SDNY? Thanks
Back to NYC….. Bloomberg would have been better off with an education campaign on what all that sugary drink does your system and what diabetes can do to your body.
I don’t like soft drink. Young nieces and nephews that I take out to eat don’t get to order soft drinks. They don’t need the added sugar or caffeine. It used to be a big deal but they are used to it now and just order water. If I know in advance that they’re coming I’ll buy rBGH-free milk.
Reading labels and knowing what some of that stuff does makes shopping for food interesting. I skip the center aisles and the meat cases.
New Yorkers are some of the most creative people in the world. They are going to find a multitude of ways to work around this latest craziness. I look forward to reading about them.
Bloomberg is still encouraging hospitals to keep their baby formula under lock and key as a way of encouraging new mothers to breast feed … if I’m lyin’ I’m dyin’
So, what does this say about Bloomberg???
He’s a Size Queen!!!
Figures
When a government rep who makes over a hundred thousand a year has nothing better to do than pass laws like this it’s time to do away with the agency and save the thousands they make in wages.
If you make less than 50% of your revenue on prepared food, eh? Some movie theaters could use creative accounting and continue to sell large drinks, I’m thinking.
rafflaw, That’s a chickensh@t take. We know the road to hell is paved w/ good intentions. I would expect more from a barrister. Wait..never mind.
This ban is so stupid. It doesn’t even accomplish what it is supposed to do on paper. If they were concerned about health, they’d ban all of the things Turley listed above… And more so, they’d ban OTHER BEVERAGES that are like it. Where are the sugary FRUIT drinks, aka “juices” as some pretend they are, that have the same amount of sugar as (and sometimes more than) soda not banned?
Big Bother.
Mike S will love this one:
(HuffPo). Stay thirsty my friends, we still have the good stuff.
Stupid law, albeit for a good purpose.
I would speculate they can offer free refills and subvert this.
If I had a store in NYC I would offer a 128 ounce pop called a “Bloomberg Bucket” and charge 7 bits for it, then advertise it locally.
Keep up the prohibition Nanny New York, and I would also like to thank the State of Idaho for banning Five Wives Vodka. It has proven to be profitable for me in selling it in WA.
It would also be enjoyable for a restaurant association to file an expensive lawsuit against the city and drain some of the life blood out of these prohibitionist rulings.
You live in America, right? Reading that feels as if I am in some parallel universe. I live in a place that doesn’t sell huge drinks, and I appreciate that, but it isn’t mandated by anything other than business needs.
In this part of the world, no one feels the need to walk around with a gallon of soda ready to consume. The irony? I live in the Sahara Desert! I am not worried about anyone’s lack of access to a big gulp, but the nanny state phenomenon is a crack in the dam of democracy that is very disturbing.
I think the mayor is not going far enough. After all, if the state has the power to regulate the size of a soft drink over health concerns, then it certainly has the right to force the booboise into the gym with compulsory membership in a health club.
And, I hardly drink soda and never in large quantities.
Amen Mr. Turley. As a libertarian this horsesh@t is my worst nightmare. Oh…great photo for this post.