New York City's sugary drink limits: What's next?
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, right, speaks while Health Commissioner Thomas Farley looks on at a news conference Thursday Sept. 13, 2012. The city's Board of Health voted 8-0 with one abstention to set a limit of 16-ounces on sugar-sweetened beverages served at New York City restaurants, movie theaters and sports venues.
/ APThe latest move from the city that's set trends by banned smoking in bars and trans fats in foods involves sugary drinks sold at restaurants, fast-food chains, theaters, delis, office cafeterias and other places that fall under the New York City Board of Health's regulation by March 2013. Exempt will be drinks sold in convenience and grocery stores, as well as dairy and alcohol-based beverages. Restaurants with self-serve soda fountains will be prohibited from giving out cups larger than 16 ounces, even for diet drinks, but consumers will be allowed refills.
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Sugary drinks over 16-ounces banned in New York City, Board of Health votes
Pictures: New York City's ban on big sodas
The Board of Health approved the big-soda ban 8-0, with one member, Dr. Sixto Caro, an internal medicine doctor at NYU Langone School of Medicine, abstaining because he felt the plan wasn't comprehensive enough. Barring any legal action, the sugar-sweetened drinks measure will take effect in March.
Public health experts around the nation - and the restaurant and soft-drink industry - will be watching closely to see whether the new restrictions will make a difference and lead to changes in the way New Yorkers eat and drink.
No other U.S. city has tried to tackle obesity by restricting portion sizes at restaurants, but city officials wanted to take action as a way of getting a skeptical public to embrace the idea that empty-calorie foods are a menace.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Thursday likened the restrictions on caloric soft drinks to banning lead paint, and cited the surge in young children being diagnosed with a type of diabetes more commonly found in overweight adults.
Many wonder whether the ban will even make a health difference given the complex factors involved in obesity.
New York City's ban on big sodas
In July, Dr. Brian Elbel, an assistant professor of population health and health policy at NYU Langone School of Medicine in New York City, explained to CBSNews.com that his research found if 100 percent of fast food consumers switched to a 16-ounce drink, a consumer on average would take in 63 fewer calories every time they set foot in the restaurant - assuming they don't get a refill.
Elbel told CBSNews.com following the ban's approval that he still thinks there's potential for this policy to influence fast food beverage consumption. However he also concedes the ban alone will not solve the obesity epidemic, given many people over-consume by 250 calories or more per sitting.
"It's a very nice first step," he said. "We're going to nudge you in the direction of hopefully purchasing fewer ounces of [sugar-sweetened drinks]."
But will New Yorkers listen, or simply turn to the thousands of stores and not covered under the measure?
By nature, many may see the restrictions as an infringement on personal liberty. A New York Times poll last month showed that six in 10 New Yorkers opposed the rule.
Complying may also prove complicated for some establishments with food-service licenses.
Starbucks is trying to figure out whether it will be barred from selling Frappuccinos in the 24-ounce size. The sugary drink comes packed with calories, but is also made with a significant amount of milk and the new rule would exempt products made of at least 50 percent milk. Iced coffee, which many cafes sweeten with liquefied sugar, may too be an issue.
"We're looking at all of our beverages internally," said Starbucks spokeswoman Linda Mills. "I think there will be a lot of subtleties to work out."
The restaurant and beverage industries complained that the city is exaggerating the role sugary beverages have played in making Americans fat compared to other snacks and desserts.
"Proposals like the soda ban discourage new business and hurt our reputation as the dining capital of the world," Andrew Moesel, spokesperson for the New York State Restaurant Association, said in a statement. "Reducing obesity is an important goal, but we want to partner with government to come up with effective ways to confront the problem. What we don't need is more burdensome regulation making it harder for businesses to function."
Eliot Hoff, a spokesman for an industry sponsored group called New Yorkers for Beverage Choices, claims to have gathered more than 250,000 signatures on petitions against the plan. He said the group is considering suing to block the rule, but no immediate legal action was announced.
Asked whether he was concerned about "well-funded" opposition from an industry with deep pockets, Bloomberg, a billionaire emerging as a major philanthropist on public health issues, suggested he wouldn't be outgunned.
"I don't know it's well-funded. I've just spent roughly $650 million of my own money to try to stop the scourge of tobacco, and I'm looking for another cause. How much were they spending, again?" he said.
What's more, a legal challenge may be an uphill battle.
In June, the CBS Evening News reported on some possible legal challenges the ban may face.
"We're going to look at all of our options to protect our business, our rights to do business and our rights not to be discriminated against," Steve Cahillane, a senior executive with Coca-Cola, told CBS News at the time. "We won't take anything off the table."
Bennett Gershman, a constitutional law professor at Pace University, argued at the time that the ban may violate the Constitution's Commerce Clause.
Local governments "can't pass laws that do impose burdens on the free flow of commerce between states," he said.
However, food law expert Diana R. H. Winters, an associate professor at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law, told CBSNews.com after the ruling that the ban would likely withstand a legal challenge.
She said any arguments about restricting commerce would likely fail because the regulation would have to withstand what's called a "rational basis of scrutiny," meaning the city would have to prove a connection between sugar-sweetened drinks and public health - not exactly a stretch given existing research.
"They probably don't have a leg to stand on," Winters said of the associations exploring legal action.
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Since Bloomberg claims he's being doing all this not to be a control freak but to stop mostly the obesity epidemic amongst our children - you'd think he'd make sure that at least they got some sort of PE (physical education) and physical activity/exercise in schools... but that's not the case!
If you dig into it you'll find that by all accounts and on all the audits for PE in New York city schools they have been receiving a failing grade for years now - not even meeting the state of New York's minimum PE requirements and not even close to passing... Every single elementary school in New York city fails! Reports reveal that many children get 0 exercise or physical activity over the course of a day. And every single year Bloomberg's been in office and the problems are getting worse. You'd think since he's so interested in the health of our children they be trying to do something to fix the PE situation. But that's not the case.. The mandatory PE plans New York city schools must submit to New York State haven't even been done in years - since 1982 to be exact. How incompetent and irresponsible could you be! Is it because they been so busy with their hair brained soda bans and turning garbage dumpsters into swimming pools right down the middle of park avenue - that they can't even find the time file the mandatory plan with the state as to how they plan on teaching PE in their schools to our children!
It should be no surprise that since many kids have no physical education no exercise and are basically sitting around like vegetables in cold storage for 24 hours a day that there's going to be a growing obesity problem amongst our children. Yet Bloomberg blames the soda...
Here's a press release from NYC's very own comptroller himself - John C Liu....
http://comptroller.nyc.gov/press/2011_releases/pr11-10-076.shtm
And here's a back page news report from the New York Times that also back up these facts..
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/05/nyregion/many-city-schools-dont-provide-physical-education-audit-finds.html
Why isn't the media - pointing out Bloomberg's blatant hypocrisy here and incompetence to do the job he was elected to do?
Bloomberg has been mayor now - approaching 12 years.. He's had plenty of time to make sure these problems get fixed - yet under his leadership they are getting worse. If Nanny Bloomberg is so obsessed with public health he not only needs to fix these problems - he needs to lead the way.
I want to see Nanny Bloomberg in his Mrs Doubtfire uniform along with Richard Simmons every morning doing aerobics classes as part of a city sponsored PSA and PE initiative. They would pipe his morning exercise program into the school's video feeds so that our children could at least get some sort of physical education... that our tax dollars already paid for - because right now - they just aren't getting it.
This short GEICO commercial could give you a 50% glimpse and a better idea of what I'm envisioning ... If you could imagine Nanny Bloomberg there with his Mrs Doubtfire uniform on - working out right beside Richard - you get the picture..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lo5ls32AWrs
Bloomberg you incompetent - socialist control freak... You megalomaniac.. Somethings not right with all these pet projects, eccentric obsessions of yours, and intrusions into our personal
lives.. (I'm starting to think some sort of mental illness is at play here)... Please leave our personal liberties, rights, and freedoms the F*** alone and do the job you were hired to do..... This is not only your duty and responsibility - it is your calling. Now go find Richard - put on that dress I know you got hiding in the back of your closet - and go to work.
http://i.huffpost.com/gen/631704/thumbs/o-BLOOMBERG-NANNY-570.jpg
In addition, exclusively subjects, since birth involved by CAD Inherited Real Risk od CAD, can suffer from ischemic coronary disorder: Stagnaro Sergio. CAD Inherited Real Risk, Based on Newborn-Pathological, Type I, Subtype B, Aspecific, Coronary Endoarteriolar Blocking Devices. Diagnostic Role of Myocardial Oxygenation and Biophysical-Semeiotic Preconditioning. www.athero.org, 29 April, 2009 International Atherosclerosis Society. http://www.athero.org/commentaries/comm907.asp