New York Bans Soda?

More normal news from New York, where mayor Bloomberg is proposing a sanction on the sale of sugary beverages in the city. His proposal is to limit the size of such drinks old in  restaurants, mobile food carts, movie theaters and more, and aims to fight obesity in a city where 58% of all adults are overweight or obese.

This would effectively limit the sale of beverages to 0.5L containers, but does not affect diet sodas or dairy-based drinks.

This is not the first initiative taken by Mayor Bloomberg to fight obesity: he's already banned trans fats in restaurants and has led a campaign to reduce salt intake. Just as this proposal is facing a lot of criticism, he also enforced a regulation which prevented smoking in bars and restaurants that was faced with a lot of criticism from both smokers and non-smokers. The claim was that  the government should not force itself into private lives, and this exact same argument is now being used in the soda issue.

The sugar cubes represent the amount of sugar found in various size Coca Cola bottles

I feel there are two sides to this argument. One one hand, I can understand how a city plagued with obesity might want to do something about it, something beyond campaigning for a healthier life style. Sugary drinks are a big part of the problem (seriously, loot at how much sugar there is in each bottle) and limiting the size of the soda can contribute to a healthier life style, as well as raise awareness about their contents and effects. Supporters have also claimed that having less people suffering from obesity would have a positive effect on the city's economy, as a lot of medical care in obese states and cities deals with the treatment of conditions generated by being overweight, and there are claims that the public tax dollar shouldn't be used to treat people who get themselves into this kind of situation. Bloomberg is just trying to cut down on the number of overweight people and have more healthy, fit New Yorkers. From this point of view, the measure is a good one.

But if people really want their daily intake of soda to be the same as it's been so far, there's nothing stopping them from buying more bottles at once. It's essentially a financial deterrent more than a physical limit on daily intake. When you think about it this way, is it right for the government to encroach on the personal lifestyles and habits of its citizens in such a fashion? Obesity is arguably a choice as much as it is a condition, and the freedom enjoyed and lauded by Americans does include the freedom to engorge yourself by drinking what is essentially liquid fatness. There is even some serious criticism from the New York Beverage Association, whose spokesman challenged Bloomberg's assertion that the consumption of these beverages is the driving force behind obesity. The community at large has sounded off in anger, defending their right to drink gallons of sugary  beverages. Glen Whitman, economist at CalState University, has said that "the idea of the state stepping in and treating adults essentially as children and trying to protect them for their own good, as opposed to the good of others, that's been with us for as long as we've been around, as long as we've had governments". People like Whitman are suggesting that the government take a different approach on issues like these, and are concerned that the passing of such a law may set dangerous precedents on government intervention into citizen lifestyles. Personally, I agree with this concern, and don't consider the intervention of the government into personal lives a good idea.

This whole situation makes me think about the Prohibition on alcohol enforced in the 1920's. It lasted for 14 years, and was ultimately unsuccessful. When people couldn't buy their alcohol legally, they circumvented the system and the illegal sale of booze bloomed. If anything, it's a lesson in perseverance and human spirit. If people want something bad enough, there will always be a way to get it. This soda law has its issues too, as we've seen. If you're a New Yorker and the law passes, you can't get a big soda at a store. But what about restaurants and other locations that offer free refills? And what about "buy one, get one free" offers in department stores? In the end, the debate is whether or not the measure will be effective in curbing obesity in  New York. I don't think it will. Obesity is from my experience a more complex problem. Sugary drinks are just a big part of a picture painted by unhealthy lifestyles, fast food, bad eating habits, lack of exercise, the combination of cheaply available "bad" foods and expensive "healthy" food and many more. Even if such a measure would cut down one of these elements, there are still the others. For me, an effective solution is one that combines education and information with encouragement, perhaps something that reduces taxation on healthier foods and increases their availability in locations that serve fast food and sodas, not something that treads on people's personal freedom.