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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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Listen up, Sheep! Big Brother is taking care of YOU, whether you like it or not, and there is NOTHING you can do about it! Don't waste your time voting, there are no candidates out there that really will represent you - just different colors of gray, all wanting to control you for their purposes. Until we throw off the whole "representative government" idea and demand either direct voter control, or start kicking out every sitting politician, this is only going to get worse. We all say we want control of immigration, have you seen it happen? We want a balanced budget, where is it? We want criminals held accountable, so school principals have kids arrested for giving each other an aspirin. Government out of control, brought to you by BOTH parties.
This is NOT a business friendly stance for the mayor to take, we should applaude him for it.
Sugar: The Bitter Truth Video on Youtube. Search for it, watch it (90 min) and become edumacated as to the war that is being waged on your liver. Someone FINALLY takes a stand protecting your liver and you a$$clowns get all up in his face. Of course you can refill your 16 oz container with whatever poisons from the fountain you wish, he is making you do a modicum of work to do so. It is NOTHING as compared to abortion or prohibition. You CAN obtain the fluid, just not the container. Simple actually.
So sugary drinks are not healthy. Lots of things aren't.
That is not the point.
Some day someone may try to ban something YOU like.
Then what?
The Nanny State is at it again. Hey, if some lard ass wants to drink a gallon bucket of sugary water, let 'em. Just don't expect me to pay for their heart transplant!
You will pay through higher insurance premiums.
Ah, but we ARE paying for it, aren't we? The heart transplants, the bypass surgeries, the diabetes epidemics, the medications... Don't all of us share the increasing burden of paying for these peoples' lifestyles through higher and higher medical and health insurance costs? Is it like we have a choice? You can't say "No, I'm not helping to pay for YOUR medical treatment because you did this to yourself". People want the government to mind its own business when it comes to things like their food and drink choices, understandable. But when their choices end up costing everyone more, is that fair? I asked this question when the first article came out about this. What's the answer? Everybody wants to blow off steam about it, but what's the answer?
Note to New Yorkers . Since You have seen Fit to Vote this Wanna Be Dictator "Mayor Loonyburg" into Office Twice. No longer move South of The Mason Dixon Line . No Offense .
Bye bye, and good luck, that is where obesity is run amok...in the REd states, go figure. The stupid states are the fattest, yeah it makes sense.
Sugar: The Bitter Truth Video on Youtube. Search for it, watch it (90 min) and become edumacated as to the war that is being waged on your liver. Someone FINALLY takes a stand protecting your liver and you a$$clowns get all up in his face. Of course you can refill your 16 oz container with whatever poisons from the fountain you wish, he is making you do a modicum of work to do so. It is NOTHING as compared to abortion or prohibition. You CAN obtain the fluid, just not the container. Simple actually.
I find it ironic that people who obviously make bad decisions that end up costing taxpayers money still want the right to "make their own decisions." Because people continue to make bad decisions that cost other people money, I think the government does have some right to regulate it, just like speeding or running red lights.
It appears we're going through a time of extreme denial about what consititutes "responsibility". If people were really responsible, everyone would buy insurance for when they bash their heads riding a motorcycle without a helmet or overeating, getting diabetes and costing the government and us taxpayers a fortune. We are now in a time of: "You can't tell me what to do!" This is exemplified by the Tea Party and is overall indicative of an underdeveloped, narcissistic personality. I predict that is this attitude continues, it will be one of the major contributors to the fall of America.
I still think America is a truly great country, but I'm glad I won't be alive when it falls in the next few decades. Due to increasingly large numbers of people who refuse to be responsible, yet want to not be told what to do, we are facing a time when eventually this will lead to our fall. I'm sure China and Russia are clapping their hands to see how stupid we have become regarding our "rights" and yet renigging on our responsibilities.
Russia and China are going down the same road ever since they allowed fast food restaurants to open in their countries. I just watched a documentary that found the rates of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes have skyrocketed in China. Russians have always had issues with obesity and diabetes mostly because their food is high carb, low in veggies, and they drink a LOT of alcohol. The whole world will be going down the tubes together, unfortunately.
That said, I don't think this kind of legislation will work. You can't force people to make good decisions. They will always find a way around it (remember Prohibition??)
Sugar: The Bitter Truth Video on Youtube. Search for it, watch it (90 min) and become edumacated as to the war that is being waged on your liver. Someone FINALLY takes a stand protecting your liver and you a$$clowns get all up in his face. Of course you can refill your 16 oz container with whatever poisons from the fountain you wish, he is making you do a modicum of work to do so. It is NOTHING as compared to abortion or prohibition. You CAN obtain the fluid, just not the container. Simple actually.
Interesting perspective WA State perspective.
So we all know that women on welfare aren't going to be able to take care of their kids without getting additional assistance we should make it illegal for them to have sex. But since we can't enforce that we'll make them get birth control implanted. But since that's not always 100% effective then we should have mandatory abortions for them. It's going to cost the taxpayers more to "help" that mother raise her child to 18 and then as we see in St Louis (and I saw in Seattle in the 1990s) we in many cases end up with 2nd/3rd and 4th generation recipients.
So where do you want to draw the line on what the government can mandate?
O'Brien: What are your feelings towards Big Brother?
Winston Smith: I hate him.
O'Brien: You must love him. It is not enough to obey him. You must love him.
Love is hate. Lies are truth.
Is it smart for people to drink giant-sized sugary soft drinks? Probably not, but you can't legislate common sense. This will just plain not work.
America needs to make many structural changes because basically there is total paralysis. We are not solving any of our problems. We need big new ideas. People don't like change. Change or drown. Two thumbs up to Mr. Bloomberg and I wish he had run for president. I would vote for him.
Yes I am ready for "big ideas" but telling me what I can do with my body is not one of them. See, here's the thing. I have a right to say an abortion, because it is my body. But I don't have a right to a big gulp to put in that same body (still mine)? Crazy, huh? And who is to decide which big idea is the right one. The left would say them. The right would say them. What must happen to really change the paralysis, is more people will need to move one way or another. The country sits at about 50/50 now politically. I happen to be in the middle. Some people say I am one of those who can't make up my mind because I don't chose to go in their direction. I actually think everyone needs to move to the middle. So there.
Sugar: The Bitter Truth Video on Youtube. Search for it, watch it (90 min) and become edumacated as to the war that is being waged on your liver. Someone FINALLY takes a stand protecting your liver and you a$$clowns get all up in his face. Of course you can refill your 16 oz container with whatever poisons from the fountain you wish, he is making you do a modicum of work to do so. It is NOTHING as compared to abortion.
Friggin itjits.
I probably would have too, except for that big disregard the voters and the City Charter and run for a third term thing. The GOPPERS, the lot of those Teatard a$$hats would have drawn and quarted him.
True GOP_R_Traitors - we'd like to have "quarted" him. Then we could pass him around to everyone in jars and none of us would have to hear any more of his stupid ideas.
Ben Amin, I like where you were going with your comment. California has Disney Land, Florida has Disney World, so why not let the whole of New York be "North Korea Land" (DPRK-L). Visitors can experience first-hand the thrill of being detained by truncheon-carrying Naz...New York City police officers and frisked for salt packets, cigarettes and Big Gulps. Watch what happens as the tourist are encouraged to give their leftover restaurant food to the homeless person standing just outside the door of the restaurant. (tee-hee, the 'homeless person' is really an undercover agent from the NYPD).
People make up your minds! It is my body when I want to have an abortion. But if I want to smoke, eat badly, drink badly, etc. then it is the governments place to tell me what I can do with my body? I'm confused.
No one is saying you can't do it, but that the hawkers of sugar based poisons should not have an open venue to hawk their poisons without control. Yes, you can get up and get a second refill of the 16oz container, but that would actually require work.
So what do you live on, GOP? Distilled water and lettuce?
Tax and regulate sugar water sales with the same enthusiasm that we tax other sinful drinks that cause health problems. Unlike wine or an occasioal alcholoic beverage, I have not heard of any health benefit derived from carbonated sugar water that would balance against the clear disasterous health effects. Are those who decry Mayor Blomberg's modest proposal equally adamant about removing the taxes restrictions on alchohol sales? Just asking.
CVA...Yeah let's remove the tax from alcohol too.! Great idae.
Wake up fatties they are coming after you like they did the tobacco users.
And next they will come after something YOU like.
You're right Tina - today it's something they think they can get past most of the people then they start moving on to something else. Remember the tobacco lawsuits? The lead lawyer said they'd never go after companies like McDonald's when they started and then right after they won the tobacco suit and got their $300M payment they filed their suit which a judge threw out.
Why not protest this stupidity by buying a 2 litre soda and setting it down at the City Hall steps. Never mind. The city employees would drink all the soda, and then recycle the bottles for a nickel a piece. The city needs all the revenue it can get to make up for the fraud cases.
First,
Become educated and not knee jerk morons who post about the guvmint this and the guvmint that. The best 90 minutes you can invest in raising your IQ by about 20% is "Sugar: The Bitter Truth" by Dr. Robert Lustig. Youtube it.
You will find that the soda industry has had a conspiracy for the last 40 years, and this simple, brave act my the mayor is about time someone in government addresses the unbridled availability and use of High Fructose Corn Sugar and Sucrose (table sugar) which are BOTH POISONS, and on equal footing as tobacco, in some instances even worse.
So, when you watch it, and comprehend it, come back and we can start a conversation on equal footing.
Okay. Watched. I don't drink sodas. But really, that is beyond the point. If you see my other comments you will see that I do not want anyone telling me what I can do with my body. The government says no one can tell me what to do with my body, if, for example, I want an abortion. So why can they tell me what to do with my body for other things. . And no, I am not anti-abortion. It is just an analogy.
GOP obviously is a conspiracy theorist.
Can't reason with a conspiracy theorist.
True Tina or he's a paid shill for one of the sugar alternative manufacturers!
I think people should look at the bigger picture. You do realize that we pay for the obesity epidemic in this country? When all the people start having health problems they can't afford, we pick up the bill. Why wouldn't you want a healthier America? Stop thinking about your damn selves all the time and start thinking about your fellow neighbor. The one who is addicted to food, or the one with type 2 diabetes. Do you think those people want to be obese? DOn't you think they would stop eating if they could? The ingredients in all the crap we consume are addictive. My God, I thought that is what this country was about. Caring for each other and wanting the best for others. Our lack of good health care and good health in this country is a joke...
I do care about others. I do not drink sodas. Why is it okay to tell someone they cannot put something in their own body?
So Anna you propose to do it by legislation? If you are so concerned about your neighbor why don't you walk next door and tell them they need to change their behavior because it offends you. And after you've done that come back and tell us how that went?
And yet these same people want government funded medical care for their obesity related problems; arthritis, diabetes with its complications, high blood pressure, larger seats on public transportation, etc.
Lets just make fat people illegal. Lock'em up and cut their food intake. Make them dig trenches or something. Problem solved.
No HELP THEM.
Sugar: The Bitter Truth Video on Youtube. Search for it, watch it (90 min) and become edumacated as to the war that is being waged on your liver. Someone FINALLY takes a stand protecting your liver and you a$$clowns get all up in his face. Of course you can refill your 16 oz container with whatever poisons from the fountain you wish, he is making you do a modicum of work to do so. It is NOTHING as compared to abortion or prohibition. You CAN obtain the fluid, just not the container. Simple actually.
We get it, GOP.
Sugar is poison and the soda companies are in on a giant conspiracy.
Okaaay...
See Tina - I told you he's a paid shill for an alternative sugar manufacturer!
Hey GOP_R_Traitors
Enough with the copy and paste - we get the idea you want us to watch the f$$king You Tube video. If you can't add to the conversation with something new back out. Simple Actually
This a-hole! Ban liqueur, ban cigs, unprotected sex, but not the size of a cup. Now I have to buy two drinks. He's like the idiots at McDonald's, if its unlimited drinks inside, why the hell would I pay for a large when I can drink as much as I want in a medium cup. It sounds good in your head, but sounds terrible out loud.
I think Bloomberg may be getting a little senile in his old age. What an absurd suggestion! What's next, a limit on the size of a hamburger or hotdog, or perhaps the size of donut in a coffee shop?? Where does this "food-police" concept end??
I support Bloomberg's effort.
then you are a moron
Hmm. Can you define Moron without looking at your dictionary?
People whine about the rising cost of healthcare, people whine when the Government attempts to address the reasons for those rises, people will always whine, because people are too reluctant to accept responsibility for their own actions.
You're right B Murphy - but the government should stand back and tell them that it was their decision to have that extra 8 ounces of soda so they get no health care. The government shouldn't be doing either! You make people accept responsibility for their actions by not bailing them out. As long as we continue to stand behind them with one program after another they have no incentive to change their behavior.
Tell that to smokers...Public policy has changed the course of smokers in the US through raising taxes, funding susation programs, and making people smoke outdoors. With your logic, this would not have ever happened and we would be spending medicare and medicaid money supporting people on oxygen.
Dunno, I certainly agree to some extent that the Government has no right interfering with peoples lives on that level, at the same time if our weight is causing the costs of healthcare to skyrocket...then isn't it in the Nation's interest to do something? Especially given we subsidize hospitals/medical facilities with taxpayer funds anyway?
That's the problem, we're already sinking mass amounts of money into the healthcare issue, as it is. With or without the Affordable Healthcare Act, we've been subsidizing poor eating habits. So, what do we do? Can't outlaw food, and no serious political player has the balls to seriously run on a platform of let people just die.... So, what's the answer? Seriously, I'm curious, because I'm not entirely sure myself.
What I do know is, people will whine no matter what. Healthcare Costs are too high, the Government is infringing on my rights, etc... It's doesn't seem like we really care about anything but money.
@James: And people whined about the smoking legislation too, Government getting involved in personal choice, right? I have no problems going outside when I have a cigarette, although, I think it's pretty stupid to ban smoking in bars...I mean, it's a bar. You expect people to be smoking in them. But, it's not a battle I particularly care about either. Bars are for idiots anyway, there's a better selection of beer right down the road from my house. And I don't need financial aid when I decide to have more than a few of them.
And we still pay for smokers, either directly or indirectly. If you think merely making them go outside fixes everything, you're fooling yourself. Bottom line, no matter how you spin it, tax payer money is always going to hospitals for subsidies.
Bottom line: I think it's the right thing to do for government to play an active role in public health. It's in our own best interest.
That is NOT the government's business. I always get a Diet Pepsi or an iced tea, which I put stevia in that I bring myself -- so I wouldn't be able to order that in a large size? Neither of those is sugar and it's not the government's business to tell me what I can drink. It's one thing to take sodas out of school vending machines because kids are impressionable and unable to always make good decisions but an adult is a FREE citizen and can do what he wants. Businesses should be able to sell what their customers want.
"Businesses should be able to sell what their customers want." If this were the case middle age business men, the largest consumers of porn, would open porn shops right in your neighborhood because that's what the "customers want," right? What about the portion of society that wants child porn or crack, if that is what the "customer wants" right? Shaydie: Government has some responsibility to look after the herd. If there is a public health issue that is projected to cause harm or long-term drain on society, they need to address it and make efforts to curtail. I applaud bloomberg for taking a first step.
#13.4 jebjoe said it succinctly.
Additionally, insurance costs do rise due to other people's bad habits because in most workplaces, your premium is based upon the collective health of your coworkers on the company health plan. If someone smokes, you pay more.
The only way around this situation is to enforce requirements for maintaining personal health insurance. Dental cleanings/checkups, general physicals, breast and colon exams, etc. on a schedule. If you don't do these very common sense things then you are on your own. Take care of yourself and you can be covered by the collective system. National health care can work in sync with personal responsibility. It does take both to work.
The government needs to stop worrying about what people eat and focus on how to get kids active. I am 5'6" and weigh 128 lbs. I just had a baby 2 months ago. My pre-pregnancy weight was 118 lbs. I ate whatever I pleased before and during my pregnancy. I drink soda occasionally. I eat potato chips daily. I never turn down french fries, and when Sonic had their sweet potato tater tots I had them once a day (along with a Route 44 cranberry limeade...mmmmmm). I am nowhere near obese, and neither are my children, because we are ACTIVE. My kids come home from school and go straight to the back yard to play baseball, soccer, football, or to just run in circles. They take karate lessons daily. I ride my bike and our entire family goes on an evening walk around the neighborhood after dinner. The only time they get to watch tv is when it is raining outside, the Texas Rangers or UT Longhorns are playing, or if they've been outside all day are needing a small break. If they want to play video games at all they have to finish their homework and do extra chores around the house. I make it easy for them to run and play and difficult for them to sit and vedge.
What we eat contributes a miniscule amount to obesity compared to inactivity. When I was a kid, we had an hour of recess a day and another hour of P.E. a day. Now kids have 15 minutes for recess a day and an hour of P.E. a week. If the government were truly worried about the people and not about extending the boundaries of their power, they'd figure out ways to get us moving. If they were doing their job and cleaning up the streets instead of looking for ways to invade our homes, more people would probably venture outside.
Good point, Mommyof3activekids.
Activity is the key.
I am laughing at all the conservatives on this string whining about the government's intrusion into a person's right to do what they want with their own body and their own health. I'd bet all the money in my savings account that you're all simultaneously commenting on an article about abortion, screaming about how Roe v Wade should be overturned and forced ultrasounds for women seeking legal abortions should be standard procedure. HYPOCRITES.
Who wants your 30.00?
I do! He loses - I'm very conservative. If a woman wants an abortion she's free to have one - it just shouldn't be paid for by my taxes! It it's covered under her health insurance plan that's just fine - it's cheaper than her having the kid she doesn't want.
Hitler has been reincarnated! Remember where the statue of liberty is standing? Open the gas chamber and herd all of the New Yorkers who voted for this idiot in.
Hitler banned soda?
LOL