City may curb sales of sugary beverages

[The Northerner]

First, it was smoking in restaurants and bars. Then, artery-clogging trans fat in fast food joints and bakeries. Now, Boston health regulators have their crosshairs fixed on soft drinks and other sugar-sweetened beverages sold in city buildings.

Concerned about the girth of employees and visitors to government agencies, Boston officials are weighing — gingerly — whether to restrict or even prohibit the sale of calorie-laden refreshments on city-owned property.

The city has convened influential health, education, and housing leaders to develop a policy that aims to reduce consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages. While discussions are ongoing, Bill Walczak, head of a community health center and a member of the city’s panel, said, “Somebody has to take a stand, and if it isn’t the government and health care institutions leading the way to a healthier lifestyle, who’s going to do it?’’

There are precedents: San Francisco’s mayor earlier this year issued an executive order banning sale of sugary drinks, and New York has imposed rules governing the mix of beverages in city vending machines to favor water.

In both cases, politicians and health authorities cited the link between soft drinks and the nation’s bulging waistline: From the mid-1970s to 2000, the average American’s daily calorie load attributed to sugary drinks rose from 70 to 190, one study reported. And Harvard researchers found that women who consume more than two of the beverages a day have an almost 40 percent higher risk of heart disease than women who largely forgo them.

Boston’s earlier prohibitions on workplace smoking and trans fat arrived at a time when public sentiment had already shifted. But Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s top health official acknowledged in an interview that restricting the availability of sodas, which are already banned from the city’s school, could engender greater resistance than previous public health causes.

Read more: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/09/20/city_may_curb_sales_of_sugary_beverages/

[NightWatcher]

1. emphasis on "city buildings". it's not the nanny state telling you how to live at home

[ejpoeta]

2. that's how they start. then they move the line farther and farther.

just like the attempts to tax the sugary beverages. they haven't been very successful so far, but the reasons are the same as for the smoking.... but where do you draw that line? and who decides.

[Ron Green]

4. You draw the line where good science says you ought to.

People can drink what they like, if they pay the tax. What's wrong with that? I'm glad incentives and disincentives are sometimes based on good science, and that we have a chance, just as we have with tobacco, to diminish the consumption of harmful crap.

[Better Believe It]

6. Is there really a danger of people being contaminated by "second hand sugar drinks"?

I don't think it's the same as tabacco smoke.

[ejpoeta]

9. health risks. higher risk of obesity, health problems. higher costs

for healthcare. that is what people who support this kind of tax will say. personally i do not support punitive taxes like this. i do however feel that if it is good enough for smokers then it's good enough for everyone else and at least it covers more people.

[Ron Green]

10. Yes, I believe we're all contaminated by toxic food,

although we ought to be free to have it when we want. It just shouldn't be cheap, and certainly shouldn't be subsidized (Big Corn and Big Soy) by our government.

I like to eat junk food once in a while, but we all ought to pay a LOT more for it when we choose it, to cover the true costs.

[theophilus]

3. I wish they wouldn't blame sugar. Give high fructose corn syrup its due!!!!!111 n/t

[Edweird]

5. I think that it should remain an individual decision.

You eat what you want, and I'll eat what I want. (For the record I haven't had ANY sugar/HFCS for the past couple of months - Atkins induction)

[The Northerner]

7. +1

[valerief]

8. Stevia-sweetened soda would be a good alternative. nt