- @cnnbrk
- Followers: 64,160,234
DOJ convinces federal judge that former President Trump used his attorney in furtherance of a crime or fraud in claâtwitter.com/i/web/status/1âŚut
- @cnnbrk
- Followers: 64,160,234
A 6.4-magnitude earthquake has struck Afghanistan, according to the United States Geological Survey cnn.it/400yKUS
- @cnnbrk
- Followers: 64,160,234
Median US home prices fell in February, ending a record streak of 131 consecutive months of year-over-year increases cnn.it/3FENiBt
- @cnnbrk
- Followers: 64,160,234
Saudi Arabia has released US-Saudi dual national Saad Ibrahim Almadi from prison, more than a year after he was arrâtwitter.com/i/web/status/1âŚIg
- @cnnbrk
- Followers: 64,160,234
A Florida jury has convicted three men in the 2018 murder of rapper XXXTentacion. cnn.it/40qikoN
- @cnnbrk
- Followers: 64,160,234
Six people affiliated with the far-right Oath Keepers militia group were convicted of various charges related to thâtwitter.com/i/web/status/1âŚS4
- @cnnbrk
- Followers: 64,160,234
President Biden issues the first veto of his presidency, rejecting a resolution to overturn an investment rule thatâtwitter.com/i/web/status/1âŚQ8
CNN POLITICS ON FACEBOOK » | CNN POLITICS ON TWITTER »
New York mayor wants big sugary drinks banned
If New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has his way, you won't be gulping down any 44-ounce Cokes at any of the Big Apple's eateries after March 2013.
Citing what he says is the contribution sugary beverages make to obesity in the U.S., Bloomberg says the buck, and the big Dr. Pepper, stops with him.
âObesity is a nationwide problem, and all over the United States, public health officials are wringing their hands saying, âOh, this is terrible.â New York City is not about wringing your hands; itâs about doing something. I think thatâs what the public wants the mayor to do,â Bloomberg told The New York Times.
Is drinking soda really that bad for you? | What is high fructose corn syrup?
His proposal would ban any the sale of any sugary beverage over 16 ounces in any of the city's restaurants, delis, movie theaters or even street carts, according to reports from New York.
Sales of sweetened drinks larger than 16 ounces would still be permitted in supermarkets and convenience stores, according to the reports, including one from CNN affiliate NY1.
Bloomberg's ban would not apply to diet drinks, juices, milkshakes or alcohol, according to the NY1 report.
The New York City Beverage Association responded quickly Wednesday.
âThere they go again. The New York City Health Departmentâs unhealthy obsession with attacking soft drinks is again pushing them over the top. The city is not going to address the obesity issue by attacking soda because soda is not driving the obesity rates. Itâs time for serious health professionals to move on and seek solutions that are going to actually curb obesity,â the group said in a statement, according to NY1.
According to the Times report, more than half of New York's adults are obese or overweight, and the city says more than 30% of its citizens drink at least one sweetened beverage daily.
Child obesity ads aim to create movement out of controversy
James Estrada, a 41-year-old truck driver from Queens, New York told the New York Post that it doesn't make sense to just ban large sizes for everyone.
âIâm 6-2, 230 pounds so . . . serving sizes donât really apply to me,â Estrada told the Post. âI just know thatâs not enough for me. I usually get a large because itâs a good deal and I take long trips. I donât want to stop every hour for another drink.â
If Bloomberg's plan goes through, there's still a way to drown yourself in Pepsi. The Times says while fast-food restaurants could only give out cups holding 16 ounces or less, free refills are allowed. So just plan for more trips to the soda bar.
On Twitter
On Twitter
@cnnbrk on Twitter
Personal regulation and responsibility should be a reasonable approach to prevent overreach of the government. However, It is evident that in American culture (as well as many other locations worldwide) a huge portion of the population has no interest in taking accountability for their health and well being. The result is that as these people give in to every craving and whim (including huge amounts of empty calories in soft drinks, etc...) and develop a sedentary lifestyle, they find themselves with diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and increased risk for basically every other ailment (including many forms of cancer). These individuals lose the ability to function in a productive way and become a drag on the economy and healthcare system to the tune of tens of billions of dollars annually. As children take parents as examples and technology makes laziness easier and more fun, the problem of obesity is growing at increasing rates (having tripled in the past 3 decades).
I personally don't know if the government is the answer, but something needs to be done. Perhaps working with food manufacturers to reformulate and improve nutritional value of their food is a more palatable approach than telling the consumer what they can and cannot buy. I have a feeling that many people would still willingly opt for the junk food even if it required a little more effort on their part. I can see people going to 2 or 3 places to get their giant sugary sodas or refilling the cup repeatedly. It really is a terrible crisis that needs to be addressed.
They should ban sports for kids because they can develop disabilities especially playing games like football and then they just become a drain on society.
No, you don't get to tell me what to do. This isn't Nazi Germany. Hands off my junk food.
I gree, these same who demand to drink and eat as they want, will later demand we take care of them when their health declines. I don't like the gov't in my life, but I also don't to have to pay the health cost for people who are unwilling to take care of themselves
Unfortunately, universal health care is step 1 in the government taking control of every aspect of your life. This removes ALL accountability for your personal choices and actions. It also allows the gov't to dictate what you do for the "greater good".
The age of infantile, pap-fed American meatpotatos has begun! BRING ON THE DIAPERS! VIVA LA IDIOCRACY!
I completely agree with what you're saying. However, I feel that government regulation is compulsory to get this done. In order to make beverages (or really anything) healthier, it takes lots of R&D and generally more expensive products...this costs money. Corporations certainly have a right to maximize their profits, and I don't blame them. Why would they voluntarily agree to take on more expense when it hurts their bottom line? There's a pretty strong direct correlation between poverty and obesity – healthy food costs more.
Matt, I'm sorry that fat people upset you. But did it ever occur to you that many people that are considered "obese" are happy just the way they are. When did we in America suddenly decide it was our responsibility as a society to dictate everything that an individual can do. It's my body, not yours. If I want to drink 22 oz sodas and eat big macs until I explode, its not up to you to try and "help" me out. Mayor Bloomndurbust should be working on bringing jobs back to the city, not how big a soda someone can buy.
Whats next you can't fart because it releases greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere?
People have no idea how to eat healthy. Then they expect the rest of us to pick up the tab in insurance costs, illness and other things just because they want their drug – sugar!
Dumbest post of the day. Like overweight people don't pay insurance too.
Most people know exactly what they are putting in their body, and do it because they want to. I's not your responsibility to tell them otherwise. Lets try this, you worry about you, and let me worry about me.
why not ban smoking, which is something that affects passerbys more than people think. everyday I see people walk by other people taking smoke breaks on the narrow sidewalks and inadvertently blow smoke in people's faces. sugary drinks? come on...gotta be kidding.
I don't think you get out much. that pretty much has happened
Well, when mayors start banning soda, then I guess it's time to start watering the tree of liberty.
Ban sugary soft drinks and legalize marijuana now!!!
Amen to that!
Legalizing pot and banning unhealthy food would be a disaster. What would you do when you got the munchies? đ
While he might be correct assuming that overeating causes obesity, he is crossing the line, and trampling on liberty. Is this guy a closet case Socialist?
Is he so stupid to not understand people could just buy more smaller drinks, or that many places have free refills? Apparently common sense is not a qualification to be Mayor of NYC. His little ban would accomplish nothing but tell people how to live.
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Remember that Mayor?
"Trampling on liberty" by banning enormous sugary drinks? What an exaggeration. Where do you people come from?
I think it's just an attempt by the mayor to get people to buy more sodas, thus feeding the sugar companies even more. That MUST be it. The mayor was no doubt paid a bribe by the soda companies to do this. After all, he couldn't be so stupid as to think that this would really work in curbing obesity or that this would actually FORCE people to drink less sodas? It won't. They'll just buy more small drinks.
Sugar is terribly unhealthy and so addictive in even bread form. Eat bread, crave a soda. Drink a soda, and want more soda, and more and more. Then you crave more bread and it just keeps going. Yet people are going to have to reign themselves in.
So just buy 2?
That way they get sales tax on 2 items instead of 1... That's what this is all about...
This is a sensible measure. Only lunatics who start from the premise that ANY rule of government is pure, Satanic evil will complain about it.
Spoken like a Socialist.
Yeah... yer probably right. Government employees need to keep busy making laws to protect their phoney-baloney jobs.
It's a perfectly sensible measure if you are a leftist, always touting that you're, 'a victim' and that government should be leading you around by the nose, picking up your mess and feeding you. Good luck in that reality.
Don't ban it, just tax it. We do it with cigarettes, why not unhealthy soft drinks as well? Make a profit off of bad behavior at least.
legalize marijuana now!!
This isn't going to work. It won't curb obesity one single bit. NO govt. regulation on food ever has. The fight against obesity is going to have to come from the people themselves. It is going to have to start at the grassroots level, with folks not being so gluttonous, or lazy, AND making the right eating choices for themselves and family. Only then will we see a dent in the obesity problem.
Also, in a strange sort of way, I think it has to do with declining morals and sense of spirituality. These things are the bedrock, or foundation of any society. When they weaken, then the whole system gets wobbly and chaotic.
And by sitting still for hours at a time with a smartphone, computer, or TV. Inactivity is more of a problem that what we eat. If you don't expend more calories than you take in, they just add to your girth. Oh my, now he'll have to mandate everyone belonging to a health club.
Hunh? Too much government!
Just more moronic, nanny-state Big Government courtesy of the looney liberal progressive morons.
But New York City voters deserve the Government that they elect.