NYC Food Stamps Soda Ban Struck Down
Mayor Bloomberg’s having a hard time swallowing this one. The feds yesterday rejected his attempt to get soda and other sugary drinks banned from the list of products one can buy in New York with food stamps.
The news came in a call from US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, said mayoral spokesman Stu Loeser. The city applied last October for a waiver of the food-stamp regulations in hope of conducting a two-year experiment to see whether eliminating sweetened beverages would reduce obesity and diabetes among recipients.
Experts had warned the odds of winning approval were slim. Still, the decision left a bad taste in the mayor’s mouth.
“We think our innovative pilot would have done more to protect people from the crippling effects of preventable illnesses like diabetes and obesity than anything else being proposed anywhere else in the country — and at little or no cost to taxpayers,” Bloomberg said.
“We’re disappointed that the federal government didn’t agree, and sorry that families and children may suffer from [its] unwillingness to explore our proposal.”
sro
to ban soda from the food stamps would be the most sensible move I’ve heard in a long time. What a pity. Now the soda companies will still get all that business…..all for an item which hasn’t got one nutritional value. When I had food stamps I didnt buy soda very much but it does make sense.
how dumb
I agree. What a pity. NO ONE needs to buy soda whether with food stamps or not. (I never tasted soda even once as a child, we never had it in the house. The first time I tasted it as a teenager I was grossed by the chemical sickeningly sweet taste and never drank it again. It is an acquired taste, not a natural one, so why would anyone want to acquire such a taste???)
But making it easy to buy for people who do have food stamps just seems dumb. the whole point of food stamps is to help people with nutrition, and to buy healthy food they couldn’t otherwise afford.In fact food stamps should be like wic, have a pre approved list of items one CAN buy, such as only fruits, veggies, bread,milk,cheese, eggs, nuts etc.. to ensure that no junk is being bought.
Take a walk down Eastern parkway and look at all the heavy or obese people sitting on the benches sipping sodas- obesity is rampant! Every time I walk down there I feel like ripping sodas from peoples hands and yelling at them to get up and move. Such a pity.
think
woah…I know people who are obese who excercise and eat healthy but are genetically predisposed to being overweight. I got diabetes as a kid when I was stick thin. Don’t judge!!
Megan
If soda is so bad for everyone, why only restrict it from those who rely on food stamps? You cannot use the poor as guinnea pigs in an experiment or regulate food choices for others just because they are lower class. If there is a ban, ban it for all, otherwise it is just widening the divide between the classes.
Mary
Ditto to what Megan said