A state appeals court rejected New York City’s super-sized soda ban, upholding a lower court’s decision that limiting the sizes of soft drinks served in city restaurants is unconstitutional.
The decision, a unanimous ruling from a four-judge panel on the state’s Supreme Court Appellate Division, said the city’s health board was acting as a legislative body when it banned city vendors from selling non-diet beverages larger than 16 ounces. While the court said the board could ban “inherently harmful” things, it didn’t feel sugary beverages fell into that category and felt lawmakers were responding to the political climate over health concerns.
But a growing body of research points to sugary soda as a key contributor to the country’s obesity epidemic.
Morning Joe co-host and self-described junk food war obsessive Mika Brzezinski has been a long-time advocate of the super-sized soda ban. In a blog post the day after courts initially struck down the ban, she wrote about the scientific research that found that sugary beverages are quite harmful, particularly in large quantities. “Today’s decision is a temporary setback, and we plan to appeal this decision as we continue the fight against the obesity epidemic,” the ban’s chief advocate Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a statement.
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