Michael Bloomberg didn’t get to be New York City’s mayor–or a billionaire–by being someone who gives up easily. As part of his public health campaign, he pushed for a ban on supersize sodas. On Monday, the day before the ban was supposed to take effect, a judge threw it out. Tuesday, Mayor Bloomberg filed a formal notice challenging the ruling. It is unclear when the appeal will be heard, and if a resolution will even be reached before Mayor Bloomberg leaves office at the end of the year.
Michael Moss, Author of Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us joined The Cycle Tuesday and said he “was really struck by the judge’s wording on the Bloomberg position being arbitrary and factitious because there is nothing arbitrary about the food industry formulating and marketing its products to us.”
Many New Yorkers celebrated when they heard the ban had been struck down. According to a recent Quinnipiac University Poll, the proposed law was unpopular in New York City, with 51% opposed and 46% in favor of it. Yet with the obesity rate at 36% in America according to the CDC, other cities have been considering similar laws to help combat the obesity problem in America.
As Michael Moss pointed out, “You get inside these companies and its really clear that salt, sugar, fat are the three pillars that are their holy grail and they know when they get the amounts perfect they will send us over the moon, their products will fly off the shelves, we will buy more [and the companies] will make more money.”
Americans are more willing to tolerate food restrictions for children than for adults. According to a Gallup poll, 67% of the nation’s adults support new nutritional restrictions on school-based junk food, while only 31% are against it.
Abby Borovitz