Sugary drinks over 16-ounces banned in New York City, Board of Health votes
A couple drinks soda in New York, May 31, 2012.
/ EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/GettyImagesThe ban passed Thursday will place a limit of 16-ounces on bottles and cups of sugar-containing sodas and other non-diet sweetened beverages beginning in March 2013.
NYC Board of Health to vote today on Mayor Bloomberg's big soda ban
New York City's proposed ban on big sodas
CBS New York reported the vote was approved Thursday with eight in favor and one in abstention. Mayor Bloomberg's office announced the news on his Twitter account:
BREAKING: Board of Health has voted to approve new sugary drink policy. 6 months from today, New York City will be an even healthier place.
-- NYC Mayor's Office (@NYCMayorsOffice) September 13, 2012
The ban will apply in restaurants, fast-food chains, theaters, delis, office cafeterias and most other places that fall under the Board of Health's regulation. People who buy sugary drinks at such establishments will still have an option to purchase an additional 16-ounce beverage.
Exempt from the ban are sugary drinks sold at supermarkets or most convenience stores and alcoholic and dairy-based beverages sold at New York City eateries.
City health officials called for the ban to combat the obesity epidemic. According to the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, more than half of adults are overweight or obese and nearly one in five kindergarten students are obese.
The restaurant and beverage industries have slammed the plan in ad campaigns and through public debates. The American Beverage Association has previously criticized that soda is being targeted as a culprit in the obesity epidemic over other factors.
"It's sad that the board wants to limit our choices," Liz Berman, business owner and chairwoman of New Yorkers for Beverage Choices, said in an emailed statement to CBSNews.com. "We are smart enough to make our own decisions about what to eat and drink."
New York City's ban on big sodas
Some medical professionals applauded the ban.
"For the past several years, I've seen the number of children and adults struggling with obesity skyrocket, putting them at early risk of diabetes, heart disease, and cancer," Dr. Steven Safyer, President and CEO of Montefiore Medical Center, said in an emailed statement to CBSNews.com. "This policy is a great step in the battle to turn this health crisis around."
Nutritionist Karen Congro, director of the Wellness for Life Program at the Brooklyn Hospital Center, told CBSNews.com, "There are pockets of the population who have no idea what a proper serving size is, so this will help reign them in." However she added without educating New Yorkers about obesity risks, the ban may not be as effective as officials hope, given people will still be able to buy sugary drinks such as Big Gulps at 7-11 convenience stores.
"Unless they get the educational portion along with it, they won't understand why it's being a banned and how it relates to them personally," Congro said.
Some New Yorkers have ridiculed the rule as a gross government intrusion.
"This is not the end," Eliot Hoff, spokesman for New Yorkers for Beverage Choices, said in a statement to CBSNews.com. "We are exploring legal options, and all other avenues available to us. We will continue to voice our opposition to this ban and fight for the right of New Yorkers to make their own choices."
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No new info here just rehashing what's already been said.
This is nothing but a desperate Mayor trying to solve a problem which he can not in a country run by Capitalism.
I totally agree with the spirit of the ban but only the part where you shouldn't be drinking that much soda.
Education is the only thing you can do and that's the end of it.
Next you will be banning Alcohol...Oh, wait that failed and created a lot of rich gangsters.
You could always scream that it's all about child trafficking and ban it like prostitution. Of course, that works too.
Now, being as I don't live in New York and never will from what I hear is that they banned only 32oz but you can still get as many 16 oz sodas AND free refills as you want?
No limit at Wallmart for canned soda?
So basically what this ban is doing is absolutely nothing but open a door for other bans to site this case.
Well, we are going to ban peanut products in school we already successfully banned 32oz sodas so it's now legal to ban certain types of food in a Capitalist free society.
This is the second attempt of my knowledge that Bloomberg has tried or has banned certain foods in order to control YOUR personal habits because you can't do it on your own.
In reality the only ones that actually care about your health are you, loved ones, doctors and INSURANCE COMPANIES. Who is the most likely culprit in this attack on your liberties?
If I die of diabetes from drinking too much soda then that is on me. I know the dangers but you have no right to tell me I can't have it. The same as you have no right in what faith to believe or what I do behind closed doors as long as I'm not threatening anyone.