Supermarkets or grocery stores that carry soda may have to pay taxes, if mayor Gavin Newsom's proposal is approved by the board. This is in response to America's obesity problem and is meant to discourage stores from carrying soda.

Newsom knows that the city will most likely be sued, but he says the risk is worth it, as it is a "very important issue."

Do you think this plan will work? Is it fair?

Article:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/17/MNF619OSF4.DTL

Oops, I forgot to mention that this proposal applies to San Francisco. There is always a possibility that it will set a precedent and apply to your city. Do you think the government should intervene in our eating habits, especially when a third of Americans are "dangerously" overweight?

I remember reading about NYC banning transfats. Was this ban ever in effect? Does anyone here know about it? I haven't found any new information.

We were just discussing this in Communications class this morning.

I am a senior in high school. We were saying that the tax on soda wouldn't help because people will turn to other beverages that are equally, if not more, unhealthy/sugary.

This wouldn't really effect me because I don't drink soda regularly.

I have lived in New York my entire life and to my knowledge, there is no ban on transfat.

I don't think that soda is the only reason why America is so grossly overweight (seriously, go look at the stats on the cdc website, it's horrible). If you tax soda, you need to tax chocolate, chips, cookies, desserts, deep fried food, etc....where do you stop?

I believe we need to kind of educate kids and their parents a bit more on how to eat healthy and what you're actually putting into your body. I'm not a crazy health nut but I eat right, exercise, and take care of myself because I want to have a long, healthy, happy life and I still drink diet coke a few times a week. I've always considered myself as pretty knowledgeable about what I'm eating but the nutrition course I took this summer showed me a whole lot more.

I can remember the reactions from several mothers in my class: "I am never letting my kids touch that kind of food again and I'm cutting down on x,y,z because I didn't know how bad that really was for me". I was surprised at the general lack of knowledge about food and how bad fast food, transfats, etc really are for you.

I could see how it could possibly help because yes soda is very sugary and I know plenty of people who quick drinking just soda to lose weight and yes they were successful, but is it really going to help absolutely everyone? When I asked my self this question it gave me the vision of people just simply moving on to another fattening unhealthy beverage and also what about all the other fattening things that us Americans love and have easy drive threw access to such as McDonalds and Jack in the Box ect.

I dont think it is a bad idea. No it wont solve the problem, but it is a start. Its not like he is banning soda, he is just making it less convienent to buy, which is one of the biggest problems. Soda is cheap and it tastes good, so why not? Mcdonalds is quick and dirt cheap. If we stop making the bad stuff so cheap and easily accessible, people would be more likley to choose healthier food.

Well, it's true that aside from soda you've got chips, pizza, beer, burgers, nachos and a million other fatty things. Mix that with drive through windows and a tendancy to drive everywhere and you'll get some pretty hefty fatties. You know, the mother that walks down the street and keeps her kids from running into traffic using her gravity well to suck them back.

However, there's not a ton you can do about it, people make the choices they're gonna make, and unless you restructure the entire market to simply outlaw fatty foods you'll never get anyone to eat right if they don't want to. My step mom is a bariatric physician that actually helps big people lose weight, has a published book and everything, and she'd know. The actually statistic by the way is that over 60 percent of americans are not just fat, but clinically obese. So really fat. Even if some might not look it, it's affecting their bodies in the same way, because they still have that much fat.

The solution? Assuming you can just fix it without magically changing the wills of all the bigger people out there, then you have one option.
First, outlaw cars and drives thru's, then make all the public transportation seats small, with arm wrests you can't lift up. It'll shame them into losing weight and not being able to drive to closer places incites more walking.
Second, you mix huckleberries into all hygenic products on the market, and release bears into all major cities. A few might get picked off, but in general they'll be forced to drop pounds if only to get faster. This also puts a little of the responsability on wildlife and will cost the taxpayers less.

Any thoughts?

I think that taxing soda will help the obesity problem a bit. Some people have stopped taking soda and some of their health problems disappeared. I think the government should do what they have to do to get us where we need to be.

NYC did indeed ban transfat. I doubled checked in case my memory was faulty (I've spent the majority of my life in Westchester County, right above NYC)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16051436/

I'm not big on heavy government intervention...for some things yes. I'm not sure I'd agree with it in this case. The problem extends to beyond soda. Obesity is a problem that is complicated by many factors.

Processed foods, convenience foods, video games, technology, drive thrus, home delivery for shopping, remote controls...

Everything we do is created through technology and convenience which makes society overall sluggish and less moving.

How many people do you see driving around the mall, grocery store, WalMart, Target, whereever...
They drive in circles until they find a close spot. Isn't it much faster and easier to park in the back lot where there are spots and walk it? All the time people waste looknig for the close spot could be spent walking across the lot (exercising) and in the mall already...

These days I've been intentionally parking in the back, jsut to add a few more steps to my day.

Is soda bad for you? Heck yeah, but taxing it isn't going to eliminate obesity. The only thing that is going to eliminate it is to change societal attitudes towards life in general I think..

This is almost as silly as banning drive through services.

What's wrong with Soda? Sure, it's a bit sugary, but it tastes good!

Is soda making Americans obese? Heck no! Americans are making Americans obese. Obesity in America is due to the attitude of the society as a whole, not the foods that are available in our supermarkets. Besides, even if they taxed it, it wouldn't deter people in the slightest unless it was a 50 percent or greater tax. I'm sure the lobbyists would have fun with that.

Anyways, to wrap up, taxing soda won't solve anything. This is going to have to be a culture change which will take time to happen, but I think will happen, some years down the road. =)

I think it is a very interesting way to solve a few things in fact. Not only will this help curb America's lust for soda, It will in courage companies like Coca Cola and Pepsi to seek new alternatives in drinks, and hopefully promote healthy drinks. This new push for Healthy Drinks in need research which will lead to jobs and a new market boom might occur from a "Health Drink Fight."

Not going to say this is a silver bullet that will fix things, but I might be very helpful towards creating a Healthy America and a Healthy Economy.