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John Makely / msnbc.com
Judy Laurini, left, and Gem Sumner, right, laugh about their 24-ounce sweet teas that they bought from McDonald's on Sixth Avenue.
NEW YORK -- Mayor Mike Bloomberg wants to limit the size of New Yorkers' sugary drinks, but the initiative is not going down very well with people in the city, including visitors interviewed on Thursday.
The ban on the sale of any cup or bottle of a drink larger than 16 fluid ounces – a little bit bigger than the size of a soda can – would include a range of sweetened drinks sold at restaurants and food carts, according to the mayor’s office. The New York Times, which reported on the initiative, said the proposal could go into effect as early as next March.
The mayor noted that 58 percent of adults in the city (and nearly 40 percent of public school students in grades K-8) are overweight or obese. Obesity costs $4 billion a year in health care costs and kills thousands of New Yorkers, his office said.
But that rationale didn’t fly with many out for lunch or a stroll in the city’s midtown district.
“I don’t need the government on my meal plate or in my beverage,” said Travis Humphrey, a 30-year-old who works in tobacco prevention from Norman, Okla.
NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg has touched off a nationwide controversy with his efforts to combat obesity. He joins Andrea Mitchell Reports to discuss the proposal.
He said he was “very reluctant” to have such regulations imposed on businesses and their products though he welcomed the effort to work on serious health issues. “This is something that I am not exactly sure if government regulation … is going to be the solution.”
A pair of friends in town drinking sweet teas in what appeared to be 24-ounce size cups also denounced the mayor’s effort.
“I wish the government would get out of it and stay out of our lives and allow us to make the choices,” said Judy Laurini, 68, of Rochester, N.Y., who advocated that he spend money on educating people about the health problem.
“I’m an adult, I can drink it if I need it,” chimed in her friend, Gem Sumner, 68, of Seattle, Wash. “But I would not let my children,” she added, laughing.
A man who didn’t want to identify himself derided the effort and the mayor’s earlier anti-smoking law, calling him, “Dr. Bloomberg,” and saying it felt like a “police state.”
“I think he’s a little bit out of line. I don’t think he’s got the right to sort of dictate what people can and cannot drink,” Carolyn Summers, a 46-year-old New Yorker who works in finance said as she held a large cup of unsweetened tea. “I can see that concern about obesity but I think that people need to be responsible for themselves.”
The mayor’s office said the ban would build on his previous health initiatives, such as banning smoking in public places and having calorie content posted at chain restaurants. It said those had improved life expectancy by nearly three years in the city famous for its pizza slices and hot dogs.
John Makely / msnbc.com
Bonita Troia, 35, a paramedic and her son Carlos Lopez, 17.
“We have an obligation to warn you when things aren't good for your health,” he told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell. “So here the idea is, if you have to take it in a smaller glass, you’ve got to make a conscious decision to have another cup of it. And, we think a lot of people won't and therefore that will reduce one of, and it’s only one of, the contributors to the obesity epidemic that’s going on in this country.”
Bonita Troia, a 35-year-old paramedic from Kingsville, Texas, said she agreed with the mayor, especially since in her work she sees 500-pound adults and children who weigh 200 or 300 pounds.
“When we grew up in the ‘80s the portions were smaller and people weren’t that big,” she said as she ate lunch with her teenage son. “The portion sizes have been getting bigger so people got bigger.”
“People just don’t discipline themselves,” she added. And, “us as taxpayers are paying for what people are putting on their plates.”
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All that needs to be said is this: If the government can decide what size and type of drink you enjoy, then the sky is the limit for Big Brother to invade everyone’s life in any way imaginable. Anyone who supports this ban is totally obnoxious and stupid and deserves to be hated. Morality and eating habits cannot be legislated. It has also been said that the more laws a nation has, the more corrupt it is. GET THE DAMN GOVERNMENT OUT OF OUR LIVES. Shrink the government = pay less tax. Grow the government = pay MORE tax. Get it?
This is the face of liberal fascism. They want to control every facet of your life, for your own good of course.
It's the price you pay for willingly accepting a nanny state, nanny's get to tell you what you can and cannot do.
"Liberal fascism"? Bloomberg is hardly a liberal. You seem to be mistaken I don't see the Democrats trying to force "vaginal probes" or stop contraception from being covered by insurance companies. I don't see the democrats trying to force women to have procedures that aren't necessary. I can see why Americans are so confused they haven't a clue as to what liberalism means or what Conservative means.
Oh we know quite well.
Government that drive business off shore with their efforts to regulate business and raise taxes on them to fund the vote buying handout programs for the quasi socialists.
I`m sorry ,but I thought our governments have way more important things to do. Like,jobs,housing,taxes and the other real things that are bringing this country down !
This one is about reducing health care costs and maintain productivity. Maybe that's not a government concern. Also, this is a NYC initiative, not federal. I thought that, by definition, local governments knew best.
Bloomberg is an example of everything wrong with government.
Dr. Blooming Idiot, I presume
Write your Senators and US Reos, urge them to pass a bill that allows you to take a baseball bat to any politician, passing, "for your own good" laws.
What is going on with the GOP? Since this congress was seated I've started to call them The American Taliban Party since they seek to control the lives of the people of the United States. Take away rights and force people to live as they want. From forcing vaginal probes in the case of abortions to this silly initiative I cannot imagine a republican suddenly wanting the government in every aspect of peoples lives from the examination room to the bedroom. From contraception to gay marriage they seek to write bigotry into state constitutions and sadly attempt to change the constitution of the United States because they know that the courts will side with our gay population which is already happening. They seem more interested in controlling peoples lives then getting people jobs and helping those about to lose their homes, to making sure everyone in the United States has health insurance.
No what we seek is to get the sneering low life scum bag quasi socialists out of our life.
By the way, you handouters need new material, you have become totally immersed in vaginal probes and are so boring.
It's Public Health 101. Just do the math: A person who drinks one 20-oz container daily of a famous brand of soft drink who switches to a 12-oz container lowers their annual intake of calories from sugar by 750,000. Apply that to millions of people and you reduce health care costs stemming from obesity and increase productivity owing to better fitness. Then consider that those costs will continue to rise unless the obesity rate is unchecked. (According to the CDC, 35% of American adults are obese.)
If you want to argue that this isn't worth a supposedly onerous government intrusion on a 300-lb person's life, at least consider the opportunity costs to everyone else.
http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html
Bullsh*t!!!
Typical. No actual counterargument, so fall back on profanity.
"Hain't we got all the fools in town our our side? And hain't that a majority in any town?" -- Mark Twain (Huckleberry Finn)
What is it about these politicians? They always get drunk with power.
Actually, what is it about the idiots that continue to vote them in?
America has gone from Nancy Reagan to Nazi Vegan, even as its goodly folk expand like Red Giants. Mayor Doomberg clearly has his finger on the pulse of this gluteus maximus crisis. Ban all pop served in sizes that you can swim in. Buttock radii is apparently growing exponentially and is out of fiscal control. Anyone more than 20% battling with their bulge should be force-fed raw carrots and deprived of Man From Glad-sized potato chip bags and Reese peanut butter cups. Failure to comply will result in a permanent ban from the Golden Starches.
Mayor Bloomberg you need to go back to fixing the pot holes in the streets and training your cops about the First Amendment rights of the people who put you in office.
If problems from obesity were not covered by healthcare I bet you would have a lot of people taking it more seriously. And it would help stem the rising cost of healthcare if we weren't paying for preventable problems!
Why can no one see that the democrats are the ones pushing for big government and stupid ideas like this one? If you don't want them running your lives, vote for someone who believes in smaller government!!
Ya, like Mitt Rob-me!
While a stupid idea, we need to do something with all these Fatties!!
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The first amendment says that we have a right to pursue happiness. IF a person wants to be obese, it is their choice. No one should have the right to tell them they can't have what they want to eat. If you are not paying for health care, you will be paying for the government in some other stupid way. Stop this crap about trying to ban food! It is bad enough that the old light bulb got banned, more and more we are turning into a communist society and I for one will eat and drink what I damn well want to!
Why not the mayor get a secret police detail that could go around and write tickets to persons caught with this size of soda? We're so thankful the mayor's term is limited, even though he has tampered with the extent of that also. Can you imagine him being mayor for thirty years or more? New York City would be like Libya, Egypt, and Syria, trying to rid themselves of unwanted leadership.........
finally they due something about the fat people this world is already crowded as is. if i were president i due alot of things that would make people mad and i would start by dueing this.
Bloomberg, you are a blooming idiot! I will drink as much soda as I damn well please! Up yours!!!!!
This is starting to look like a communist run New York City. Folks you need to vote him out!!!!!!!!
This is the first sign of communist run New York City. Impeach that Blooming Idiot. He needs to be Jailed as a communistic fascist pig that he is.