Editorials

Trying to legislate soda consumption is just silly

HIGHLANDS TODAY
Published: June 3, 2012

At some point we have to realize we cannot legislate or dictate every facet of everyone's personal lives. When it comes to what we eat or drink, well, that's a bridge too far.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to fight obesity by limiting the size of sugary soft drinks that can be sold in the Big Apple. If his plan is passed, nothing larger than 16 ounces of soda would be allowed to be sold, with a few exceptions. Diet drinks wouldn't be included, but any 17-ounce or larger drink that contains more than 25 calories per 8 ounces would be off-limits in restaurants, delis, sports arenas and movie theaters.

These days a 16-ounce drink is considered a small. According to an Associated Press story, in the 1950s, McDonalds offered only one size for soft drinks: 7 ounces.

Most of us realize how Americans have supersized everything. Our meals are much bigger, as are our homes and waistlines. We also realize how government wants to regulate and control so many parts of our lives.

Some laws and ordinances make sense. Requiring seatbelts, for example, is good law that saves lives every day. Regulating the amount of alcohol that a person may drink and still drive obviously is good law that makes a big difference. But regulating soda is just silly.

People can buy all the soda they want, and the regulations put forward by the mayor do not regulate other places that sell the same sugary drinks, such as supermarkets. It's an unenforceable ordinance that won't make a bit of difference to anything.

We all understand that sugary soda is bad for us and too many of us drink way too much of it. That said, in the end, it doesn't affect anyone else and people should have the right to make their own choices about such things.

It figures New York City would be the place trying to implement such an ordinance. We hope no one else in the city falls for this phony attempt at legislating eating and drinking habits.