60% in City Oppose Soda Ban, Calling It An Overreach by Bloomberg, a Poll Finds

[alp227]

Source: The New York Times

Three weeks before a scheduled Board of Health vote on the proposal, New Yorkers are cool to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's plan to prohibit sales of large sugary drinks in city restaurants, stadiums and movie theaters, according to a new poll by The New York Times.

Six in 10 residents said the mayor's soda plan was a bad idea, compared with 36 percent who called it a good idea. A majority in every borough was opposed; Bronx and Queens residents were more likely than Manhattanites to say the plan was a bad idea.

Read more: http://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/08/23/nyregion/most-new-yorkers-oppose-bloombergs-soda-ban.xml

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There are better ways to fight obesity and combat HFCS than over reaching into adults' dietary choices.

(edit) I would support taxing soda though, and the only argument the sugar water industry would have is this notoriously bad "Americans Against Food Taxes" ad:

[DuaneBidoux]

1. I do agree with the majority here.

Definite overreach.

Now banning soda from schools--that's a different chestnut.

[handmade34]

2. too bad

I agree with the ban although better still; I think all soda should be a controlled substance

[Nuclear Unicorn]

12. It's hard enough keeping the government out of our bodies

Why give them new rationales?

[Selatius]

3. This is a perfect opportunity to introduce a "compromise": A 25% sugar sales tax.

Tax it like they're cigarettes.

[RevStPatrick]

5. I'm a New Yorker, and I would take that a step further...

100% tax on all sodas over 20 ounces.

Or something like that.
I don't really care.
I drink one Mexican Coke a month, and maybe one Jones or Fenniman's a month.
I think it's pretty much a non-issue for most people.

[David__77]

4. As a poor kid, my friends and I despised Pete Wilson "junk food tax" in California

What the hell else was I supposed to buy with my two dollar a day budget?!?

[part man all 86]

6. Taxing sodas and sweets is another tax on the poor and middle class.

I do not need a daddy day care mentality tax to show me the way to healthy living. Why stop there, how about a motor tax on any electric, diesel, gas, or fuel burning engine from a lawn mower to a huge cargo ship at 100% or a tax on potty mouth at $100 a pop or if you wear too much perfume or cologne that will be $10 odor draft. Or if you tell any lie it will be 10 days in the pokey, do not pass go or collect $200 or forgot to take a bath a day, be force to swim in a suds pool for 24 hours. Or better yet, it is our life and stay out of it unless you want to start something that can and will snowball into a clusterfuck. I, the evil one have typed!

*But I do agree sweets and sodas in schools should be limited.

[SylviaD]

8. Agree 100% nt

[bhikkhu]

10. High fructose corn syrup hasn't been on the market long enough

...for the poor and middle class to know that they are giving their kids obesity, hypoglycemia and diabetes when they supply them regularly with cheap soda. In any case, it has nothing to do with income, same as cigarettes - disease disables and kills with an egalitarian lack of concern for wealth and status.

http://rense.com/general69/fruc.htm

http://www.thekitchn.com/princeton-proves-high-fructose-112003

http://drmericle.com/hypoglycemia.php

...and so forth. There's plenty of documentation, although (like with global warming) there is plenty of money behind any narrative that changes the subject and changes nothing.

[erpowers]

7. Bad Policy

The Mayor's plan was bad policy. The ban did not extend to grocery stores, or convenience stores, which it seems most people get most of the sodas. As a result the ban was bad policy in that very few people, if any, we're prevented from getting large sodas.

[bhikkhu]

9. If all the fuss leads to a reduction in HFC Syrup use...

then its worth it. The studies linking high fructose corn syrup to diabetes are enough for me, though the correlation in the rise of diabetes and the use of the sweetener should have been sufficient. I wish we had more substitutes on the market - cane sugar sweetened sodas taste wonderful, but why are they so hard to find?

[Javaman]

11. More outrage over sugar food colored water.

I love humans, the ridiculous things really matter to them.