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.”
(Source: NY Post)
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2 Responses
Why are our tax dollars going for NON food items, Soda and sweetened drinks have zero nutritional value. Where is the common sense in all this. Food Stamps has the name implies is for food, to help the disadvantaged put real food on their tables.
I am sorry to see the continued idiotic decisions our federal government makes, just look at the president pushes health food and such and then in spotted stuffing fast food down his throat.
Soda is a basic part of American cuisine. Even Obama, the chamnpion of the “nanny state” was right to reject this. The government shouldn’t be picking menus. If people on food stamps want to drink water, and save money for other things, that seems reasonable.As it is, food stamps provide a set amount of money (rather than handing out certain items in unlimited quantities or agreeing pay a certain percentage of the bill), so a user can decide what they want to eat. It doesn’t cost the taxpayers money is someone substitutes two bottles of coke/pepsi for four bottle of name brands for tone carton of orange juice.