Thursday, May 31, 2012

More Nanny State Madness

From where else, (No not San Francisco....... this time) but New Yorks nosy mayor  Michael Bloomberg .

Mayor Bloomberg Seeks Ban On Large Sugary Drinks In City Eateries

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is on the verge of taking serious aim at sugary drinks, as he wants to ban such beverages larger than 16 fluid ounces from nearly all dining establishments in the city.
The city’s proposed ban on sugary drinks would apply to service in nearly all restaurants, movie theaters and street food carts and it is part of a Health Department aim to reduce obesity.
The ban, which if approved would be the first of its kind in the nation, would take affect in March 2013.
Diet sodas, fruit juices, dairy-based beverages like milkshakes and alcohol would be exempt from the ban and it would not affect sales in supermarkets or bodegas.
However, corner stores and all other establishments that receive a letter grade on food service from the Health Department would have to follow the ban.
The Health Department is not seeking City Council approval to move forward with this plan, but the city's Board of Health would have to sign off on it, something that is considered a foregone conclusion.
The New York City Beverage Association was already fighting back Wednesday. A spokesman for the group says in a statement, “There they go again. The New York City Health Department’s unhealthy obsession with attacking soft drinks is again pushing them over the top. The city is not going to address the obesity issue by attacking soda because soda is not driving the obesity rates. It’s time for serious health professionals to move on and seek solutions that are going to actually curb obesity
You gotta wonder what it is exactly that this control freak thinks he's getting out of this, other than making it harder for business to survive in a government controlled environment.
Lets look at this another way, so these drinks can only be purchased in 16 ounces or less, what's to keep someone from buying 2 then?
So what's next?
Bloomberg gonna put a limit on how many can be purchased at a time?
If people didn't want super sized drinks then they wouldn't buy them, it's that simple and one of the reasons that businesses are hurting is government telling them what lawful products they can or cannot sell.
Bloomberg wants to fight obesity he can pay for an education campaign, the way not to do it is to regulate small business into the ground.

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