Nyc Soda Ban

Maurice Wilson

Soda Ban

Ney York City, like most of the United States, has a large segment of obese people. Obesity is an issue that plagues our country. So the city of New York is trying to impose a ban on soft drinks. The ban is supposed to prevent restaurants from serving sugary drinks over 16oz. The soda ban is an inefficient and unconstitutional fix to the obesity problem. The soda ban method will not only hurt businesses at all levels, but it will also give an unnecessary precedent to government officials. The proposal doesn’t even solve the overall issue. It really only delays the problem temporarily.

The first issue with the ban is that it doesn’t fully get rid of the problem. Under Mayor Bloomberg's ban any soda larger than 16 ounces could not be sold at food-service establishments in New York City. At restaurants with self-service soda fountains, cups larger than 16 ounces could not be provided. However this does not include supermarkets, vending machine operators and convenience stores. There was also no ban on refills. The ban only limits the size of receivable drinks in certain restaurants. Supporters of the ban may say it will force smaller consumptions of sodas during meal time. All this means is that people will only have to wait for a large drink, only delaying the process.

Another issue is that it interferes in profit margins for businesses. To have a soda size limit puts a hamper on the amount of potential soda sold. This drop in sales could in turn lead to a drop in profit and ultimately lead to a reduction in jobs. Granted this is an extreme case, but it is still messing with the lively hood of big industries all the way down to small mom and pop restaurants. Of course people can buy two drinks as opposed to one, but that defeats the purpose of the ban. It can also be suggested that the companies/restaurants switch to healthier drinking products. That would be a great alternative if it wasn’t more expensive to be healthy in this country than it is to be unhealthy. The healthiest diets cost about $1.50 more per day than the least healthy diets, according to new research from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). This is for the most basic diets and begins to increase the healthier it gets. Also that $1.50 adds up over time and also multiply that by the number of mouths a person has to feed.

Finally this ban will set a precedent in government that will make people uncomfortable. This ban goes against the democratic nature of our country by allowing the government to impose any laws they see fit without a proper vote of approval by the citizens. To make matters worse the government division that made the decision, The Board of Health, acted outside of its powers. This claim was in the decisions of both the New York Supreme Court and New York Supreme Court Appellate Division. In its unanimous opinion, the four-judge panel said Tuesday that the health board was acting too much like a legislature when it created the limit. The judges wrote that while the board had the power to ban "inherently harmful" foodstuffs from being served to the public, sweetened beverages didn't fall into that category (Fox News). Yes of course in a situation like this it is comforting to see that the government actually cares for its citizens, but it still strips them of their rights. If this ban had been suggested and then voted on by the city and approved, then there is no one at fault in this case.