Those of us who live in NYC or at least visit regularly will have soon to face the new proposed restrictions on the size of sugary drinks that one can order at city regulated food establishments. If you are used to having a 32 oz soda with your pizza pie or a 54 oz container of non diet soda with your hamburger then you have to find a different way to get your fix. Nothing larger than 12 ounces from here on. Do you know that the 54 ounce "cup" is almost 2 liters. I can still remember when the Pepsi and Cola bottles used to be only 6 ounces and no one complained.
Is mayor Bloomberg making the NYC government into a nanny state? Does he have the right to do so or should the citizens take the matter into their own hands and refuse to abide by these regulations? This is not a simple question with an easy answer. Did the state have the right to tax cigarettes and pass motorcycle helmet laws? If you answered yes then why not tax sugary drinks? They are just as harmful and some would suggest even more harmful to the national health than the bicycle helmet laws. If the state does not have the right to prevent us from "killing" ourselves slowly but surely through obesity then does it have the right to mandate recycling? What about mandating levels of emissions and protecting forests and rivers forexample.
Watch the following short video clip that was prepared by NBC:
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2012/09/09/opinion/100000001768095/soda-ban-explained.html
