Mayor Bloomberg of New York City is asking for federal permission to ban the purchasing of soda and sugary drinks using food stamps. In 2004, the Agricultural Department denied Minnesota this request stating that it would stigmatise those who were using food stamps and brand them as making irresponsible choices. In 2008, it was denied again but this year, the chairman of the House of Representatives agricultural committee has said that the obesity epidemic has been fuelled over last 30 years and that soda drinking was one of the primary causes.
The value of the food stamps would remain the same meaning that there would be more money spent on nutritious food. In New York City, trans-fats are banned and all restaurants are required to produce a calorie count on their menus. This is yet another important step in taking control of their obesity epidemic and must be preferable to spending millions of tax payer’s income on gastric band operations like we seem to be doing in the UK.