NYT May 30, 2012

New York Plans to Ban Sale of Big Sizes of Sugary Drinks

By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM
New York City plans to enact a far-reaching ban on the sale of large sodas and other sugary drinks at
restaurants, movie theaters and street carts, in the most ambitious effort yet by the Bloomberg
administration to combat rising obesity.
The proposed ban would affect virtually the entire menu of popular sugary drinks found in delis, fastfood franchises and even sports arenas, from energy drinks to pre-sweetened iced teas. The sale of any
cup or bottle of sweetened drink larger than 16 fluid ounces about the size of a medium coffee, and
smaller than a common soda bottle would be prohibited under the first-in-the-nation plan, which
could take effect as soon as next March.
The measure would not apply to diet sodas, fruit juices, dairy-based drinks like milkshakes, or alcoholic
beverages; it would not extend to beverages sold in grocery stores or convenience stores.
Obesity is a nationwide problem, and all over the United States, public health officials are wringing
their hands saying, Oh, this is terrible, Mr. Bloomberg said in an interview on Wednesday in City
Halls sprawling Governors Room.
New York City is not about wringing your hands; its about doing something, he said. I think thats
what the public wants the mayor to do.
A spokesman for the New York City Beverage Association, an arm of the soda industrys national trade
group, criticized the citys proposal on Wednesday. The industry has clashed repeatedly with the citys
health department, saying it has unfairly singled out soda; industry groups have bought subway
advertisements promoting their cause.
The New York City health departments unhealthy obsession with attacking soft drinks is again pushing
them over the top, the industry spokesman, Stefan Friedman, said. Its time for serious health
professionals to move on and seek solutions that are going to actually curb obesity. These zealous
proposals just distract from the hard work that needs to be done on this front.
Mr. Bloombergs proposal requires the approval of the Board of Health, a step that is considered likely
because the members are all appointed by him, and the boards chairman is the citys health
commissioner, who joined the mayor in supporting the measure on Wednesday.
Mr. Bloomberg has made public health one of the top priorities of his lengthy tenure, and has
championed a series of aggressive regulations, including bans on smoking in restaurants and parks, a

prohibition against artificial trans fat in restaurant food and a requirement for health inspection grades to
be posted in restaurant windows.
The measures have led to occasional derision of the mayor as Nanny Bloomberg, by those who view the
restrictions as infringements on personal freedom. But many of the measures adopted in New York have
become models for other cities, including restrictions on smoking and trans fats, as well as the use of
graphic advertising to combat smoking and soda consumption, and the demand that chain restaurants
post calorie contents next to prices.
In recent years, soda has emerged as a battleground in efforts to counter obesity. Across the nation, some
school districts have banned the sale of soda in schools, and some cities have banned the sale of soda in
public buildings.
In New York City, where more than half of adults are obese or overweight, Dr. Thomas Farley, the health
commissioner, blames sweetened drinks for up to half of the increase in city obesity rates over the last
30 years. About a third of New Yorkers drink one or more sugary drinks a day, according to the city. Dr.
Farley said the city had seen higher obesity rates in neighborhoods where soda consumption was more
common.
The ban would not apply to drinks with fewer than 25 calories per 8-ounce serving, like zero-calorie
Vitamin Waters and unsweetened iced teas, as well as diet sodas.
Restaurants, delis, movie theater and ballpark concessions would be affected, because they are regulated
by the health department. Carts on sidewalks and in Central Park would also be included, but not
vending machines or newsstands that serve only a smattering of fresh food items.
At fast-food chains, where sodas are often dispersed at self-serve fountains, restaurants would be
required to hand out cup sizes of 16 ounces or less, regardless of whether a customer opts for a diet
drink. But free refills and additional drink purchases would be allowed.
Corner stores and bodegas would be affected if they are defined by the city as food service
establishments. Those stores can most easily be identified by the health department letter grades they
are required to display in their windows.
The mayor, who said he occasionally drank a diet soda on a hot day, contested the idea that the plan
would limit consumers choices, saying the option to buy more soda would always be available.
Your argument, I guess, could be that its a little less convenient to have to carry two 16-ounce drinks
to your seat in the movie theater rather than one 32 ounce, Mr. Bloomberg said in a sarcastic tone. I
dont think you can make the case that were taking things away.

He also said he foresaw no adverse effect on local businesses, and he suggested that restaurants could
simply charge more for smaller drinks if their sales were to drop.
The Bloomberg administration had made previous, unsuccessful efforts to make soda consumption less
appealing. The mayor supported a state tax on sodas, but the measure died in Albany, and he tried to
restrict the use of food stamps to buy sodas, but the idea was rejected by federal regulators.
With the new proposal, City Hall is now trying to see how much it can accomplish without requiring
outside approval. Mayoral aides say they are confident that they have the legal authority to restrict soda
sales, based on the citys jurisdiction over local eating establishments, the same oversight that allows for
the health departments letter-grade cleanliness rating system for restaurants.
In interviews at the AMC Loews Village, in the East Village in Manhattan, some filmgoers said
restricting large soda sales made sense to them.
I think its a good idea, said Sara Gochenauer, 21, a personal assistant from the Upper West Side.
Soda, she said, rots your teeth.
But others said consumers should be free to choose.
If people want to drink 24 ounces, its their decision, said Zara Atal, 20, a college student from the
Upper East Side.
Lawrence Goins, 50, a postal worker who lives in Newark, took a more pragmatic approach.
Some of those movies are three, three and a half hours long, Mr. Goins said. You got to quench your
thirst.
Colin Moynihan contributed reporting.

June 11, 2012

Obesity Ills That Wont Budge Fuel Soda Battle by Bloomberg
By WINNIE HU
A hospital offers Zumba and cooking classes. Farmers markets dole out $2 coupons for cantaloupe and
broccoli. An adopt-a-bodega program nudges store owners to stock low-fat milk. And one apartment
building even slowed down its elevator, and lined its stairwells with artwork, to entice occupants into
some daily exercise.
In the Bronx, where more than two-thirds of adults are overweight, the message has been unmistakably
clear for a long time: Slim down now.
But, if anything, this battery of efforts points to how intractable the obesity problem has become in New
Yorks poorest borough. The number of the overweight and obese continue to grow faster in the Bronx
than anywhere else in the city nearly one in three Bronx adults is obese leading the citys health
commissioner to call it ground zero for the obesity epidemic problem.
So it was to the weight-burdened Bronx that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg went last week to make the
case for his controversial proposal to ban supersized sodas and sugary drinks. Standing in the lobby of
Montefiore Medical Center, the boroughs largest hospital, he was flanked by doctors who spoke of
treating more patients than ever with diabetes, hypertension and other obesity-related diseases.
Critics have described the proposed soda rule as interfering with a matter of personal choice, calling
instead for less intrusive means to address the obesity problem, through education and access to healthy
foods. But the Bronx experience helps explain why Mr. Bloomberg and city health officials embraced
the aggressive new regulatory tack after years of trying, and failing, to curb obesity through those types
of measures.
At parks, bodegas and fast-food restaurants across the Bronx, many residents had not heard of most of
the previous anti-obesity efforts. If I did, I dont think Id be this big right now, said Faith ColemanNjikeng, who, at 5-foot-2 and 200 pounds, has never been heavier. They didnt do a good job of
publicizing them.
For others, nothing had worked. Brett Toney, who is 5-foot-9 and 210 pounds, and his wife, who is also
obese, have sworn off fried foods, attended health fairs, used a coupon for a farmers markets and walked
in a park for exercise in the past year. He did not lose a single pound. She gained 20.
Kelly D. Brownell, the director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, said
that while education and incentives were popular with the public, those programs tended to reach
relatively small numbers because of their limited funds. He said he supported the use of regulations like
the citys proposed ban on large sodas as a necessary step toward curbing obesity.

It completely makes more sense to make the environment healthier rather than to just do pure
education, he said.
In defending his proposal, Mr. Bloomberg said at Montefiore that the ban was not intended to tread on
anyones rights, and he noted that more than individual liberties were at stake. We are absolutely
committed to doing everything in our power to help you get on track and stay on track to maintain a
healthy lifestyle, he said. Because this isnt your crisis alone it is a crisis for our city and our entire
country.
Though the Bronx has the largest percentage of overweight adults, a staggering 70 percent, the other
four boroughs also have seen increases in the past decade. Sixty-two percent of Staten Island adults are
overweight; followed by Brooklyn, at 60 percent; Queens, at 57 percent; and Manhattan, at 47 percent,
according to city health data.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 68 percent of adults in the United
States were either overweight or obese in 2008.
Its simple math: its increased intake of calories and decreased exercise, said Dr. Steven M. Safyer,
the president and chief executive officer of Montefiore, which spends about $7 million annually on antiobesity and related programs, including community health fairs and free Zumba, yoga and cooking
classes for thousands of employees, patients and local residents. The hospital no longer sells sugary
drinks, deep fried foods or ice cream on the premises. Dr. Safyer supports the proposed soda rule.
During a recent health fair at St. James Park, about 100 people had their weights and blood pressures
measured. Community groups handed out brochures for nutrition programs, jump-ropes, energy bars and
even a card showing portion sizes of foods like rice and beans.
Some left with optimism that they would change their ways. Im going to take care of myself more,
Jose Jimenes, who is 5-foot-6 and 200 pounds, said after learning he had high blood pressure.
City health officials and community leaders insist that all the anti-obesity measures have helped some
people, though they acknowledged it was not enough in a borough of 1.4 million.
I wouldnt call anything weve done a failure until we put them all together, said Dr. Thomas A.
Farley, the health commissioner, who believes the soda rule will work together with the previous efforts.
There is little available data showing the cost of the programs, the number of participants or the results.
Aides for Mr. Bloomberg noted that the efforts had worked, with more than 500 bodegas and 20
supermarkets in the Bronx now stocking healthier food. But they did not report the extent to which

whole-wheat bread was replacing white bread or low-fat milk was replacing whole milk in customers
shopping baskets.
The impact of other programs was also inconclusive. The mayors aides said the city had issued 200
permits for green carts, which sell fresh fruits and vegetables, in Bronx neighborhoods since 2008, and
that the $2 coupons for farmers markets, known as Health Bucks, had an 88 percent redemption rate in
the Bronx, up from 81 percent the year before.
Ruben Diaz Jr., the Bronx borough president, said that while the mayor had proposed a bold idea, the
city should focus on expanding community and education programs rather than trying to dictate soda
sizes.
Ultimately people need to be responsible for their own actions, Mr. Diaz said, explaining that if
theyre of a certain mind-set, theyre going to continue to have poor eating habits, and were still going
to have the same problem.
Outside a bustling McDonalds near Yankee Stadium, many Bronx residents said the only effect of the
proposed ban would be on their wallets: they would have to buy two small cups of soda ($2.58) instead
of one large ($1.89) to get their fill.
If I eat cheeseburgers and fries, Im going to get dehydrated and that little cup is not enough, said
Jessica Torres, 22, a mother of two.
Arla Lucien, 27, a post office clerk trying to lose 40 pounds, said a ban would no more help her stick to
her diet than the calorie counts posted on menus, another anti-obesity measure that city leaders hoped
would lead consumers to make healthier decisions. She still orders her Big Macs.
Really, youre going to tell me how to eat and drink? she said. Thats not going to work. Its hard to
do with kids; you think its going to work with adults?