Concerned over the outrageous obesity rates in the city, New York mayor Michael Bloomberg has proposed to ban the super-size soda has stirred a heated debate across the nation.
Though people are supportive of Bloomberg's intention to steer people away from unhealthy food habits, they do not approve of this.
Councilwoman Letitia "Tish" James in her Huffington blog post stated her reasons for opposing the proposed ban. According to her, if implemented, it would have adverse effects on the current job scenario and would steal the limelight away from the real issue at hand, obesity.
Though people agree with her, the issue has gone out of hand. Nearly half of all the people in New York are obese and the timing of this seems right. It's not as if every sugar- based drink is being banned. The drinks which do not cross the proposed 16-ounce limit will be exempted from the ban.
Health activists and many policy makers have welcomed this move. They feel that government intervention is necessary in order to help citizens make healthier choices. To improve public health and combat obesity, the ban is inevitable, say the activists.
But many nutritionists and market experts are of the opinion that the ban may "just not work". Understanding the drinking labels, calculating serving size and calories is extremely confusing, they say. Every beverage company has different measuring units, for example, Coca Cola lists both 20-ounce and 12-ounce can of cola as single serving which can be tricky.
On the other hand, the beverage companies are initiating large-scale campaigns against Bloomberg's administration decision to ban soda. They want to highlight it as an issue of freedom of choice to divert the attention of the public from the topic in question.
Bloomberg's propositions are justifiable, but the chances of them being implemented are bleak. People still remember his previous unsuccessful attempts at making the soda less desirable. In retrospect, the mayor supported a state tax on sodas that died in Albany and his effort at restricting the use of food stamps to buy sodas did not bear any fruit as a result of federal regulators' rejection.
The public comments regarding the issue is open till July 24.
