Besides, governments have no damn business dictating what Americans drink, much less mandating drink quantities allowable for public consumption.
Mind you... I detest soft drinks, which are little more than chemicals, additives, fillers, food coloring, caffeine, salt (sodium), and sugar or a chemical sugar-substitute. I neither buy nor consume soft drinks, nor serve them in my home. To me, they taste harsh and metallic... Soft drinks are the ultimate industrial fake food.
We've known for decades that sugar-loaded soft drinks are a key contributor to the U.S. obesity epidemic, as well as weight-related diseases as diabetes Type 2, dental decay, heart ailments, even cancers. (Recent studies have linked sugar-free soft drinks to health concerns, too, including weight gain and metabolic syndrome, which is pre-diabetes.)
The Mayor is obviously correct: soft drinks are bad for human health. But his ban is sillly, and it's insanely arbitrary and capricious.
The Mayor wants to make it a minor crime for restaurants, theaters, sports venues, fast-food purveyors, even food carts and kiosks to sell sugar-laced drinks... soft drinks, sports and energy beverages... in containers larger than 16 ounces.
But Mr. Bloomberg provides a plethora of bewildering exceptions, including:
- Convenience stores, including 7-Eleven, home of the Big Gulp and Super Big Gulp
- Grocery stores and markets of all types
- Vending machines
- Newsstands
- Soft drinks with fewer than 25 calories per 8 ounces
- Fruit drinks
- Beverages containing dairy products
- Beverages containing alcohol
No bans are planned for buying more than one 16-ounce cup, for refilling your existing cup, or for filling to the brim your own mega-size non-disposable drink holder.
