Michael Bloomberg wants to ban restaurants, cinemas, vendors and stadium concession stands in New York from selling super-sized sweetened drinks.
Michael Bloomberg wants to ban restaurants, cinemas, vendors and stadium concession stands in New York from selling super-sized sweetened drinks.
As reported in the New York Times, the mayor plans to introduce a proposal next month to restrict the sale of cups and bottles containing 16 fluid ounces or more of sweetened drink.
“Obesity is a nationwide problem, and all over the United States, public health officials are wringing their hands saying, ‘Oh, this is terrible,’ ” Bloomberg said of his latest attack on delicious things. “New York City is not about wringing your hands; it’s about doing something,” he said. “I think that’s what the public wants the mayor to do.”
Bloomberg has previously banned the sale of sugary sodas in vending machines in schools and on city property.
The New York Post hit the front lines for reaction. “Just because he doesn’t like soda doesn’t mean others don’t, too,” 22-year-old Arthur Abermov told a reporter who turned up at a McDonald’s in Midtown.
The Post also talked to James Estrada, a self-described over-sized truck driver, who insisted his height and weight should exclude him from the restriction. “I just know that’s not enough for me. I usually get a large because it’s a good deal and I take long trips. I don’t want to stop every hour for another drink.”
A spokesman for the soft drink industry says the mayor’s proposal reveals an “unhealthy obsession with attacking soft drinks” and is therefore hard to swallow.