Toronto just rejected a proposal to ensure that vending machines in city buildings stop selling sugared soda and other sugar added beverages.
With unabashed fear mongering, City Councillor Doug Ford was heard to state,
"Once you get rid of all the sodas and the water, are you going to go after my butter tarts downstairs, too. I'm not being sarcastic. And the next step would be let's dictate what we should eat, what we can drive. Should we take the bus because it's not healthy to drive a car. Where does it stop? Where does the socialism stop."Um, councilor Ford, I think with a single payer health care system, it might actually be in the state's best interest to protect our health, and by the way, we do it plenty.
We dictate that we must wear seat belts and helmets. We use disincentive taxation to discourage smoking and drinking. We have laws against jaywalking and drunk driving. Why do we have all these laws and practices? Because at the end of the day, we're on the hook as a country for the medical problems associated with poor choices.
Now I recognize that the likelihood of banning pop in vending machines in city buildings isn't going to impact directly on our health care coffers, but I would have hoped that the city, and our government as a whole, would see value in serving as examples for the rest of our population. After all, there is no food with a more clear cut link to obesity than sugar sweetened beverages.
Oh and Councilor Ford, guess what? Obesity is the number one preventable cause of death in Canada. Recognizing that and encouraging environmental change isn't socialism, it's survival, and it's something all countries should do when an obvious need arises.
Without changing the world we live in, we're not going to see change. The problem with obesity today isn't a consequence of a sudden epidemic loss of dietary restraint and control. The problem is a consequence of the changes that have occurred to our world over the course of the past 50 years. Consequently, the problem is not going to be solved on an individual, one by one, willpower-based basis. This problem's going to need formative environmental changes that make healthier choices easier to make. We need to shift the default. Changes like ensuring vending machines not carry sugar-sweetened beverage, while far from dramatic, would be one teeny, tiny step of a very long journey, but it would still be a teeny, tiny step.
When are we finally going to start walking?
UPDATE (same day) - coincidentally the news just came out that Boston's going to ban sugar sweetened beverage sales on city property. Guess unlike Toronto's mayor, Boston's has foresight.
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Agree! They are slowly being banned in schools in Ireland.
ReplyDeleteSmall steps in the right direction
It's a tragedy of socialism that one can hardly find cigarette dispensing machines in buildings and schools anymore either. My rights are being trampled upon.
ReplyDeleteI'm being sarcastic of course.
Rather than demonizing every institution that sells soda (there's too many of them), I recommend education.
ReplyDeleteLet's start calling soda what it really is ...
liquid candy
Most people, certainly not all, think of candy as a treat. So, once you rename soda to liquid candy, the education process will begin.
Back to the demonization: It's a battle that cannot be won. Most people live on "The Main Street Diet" - www.TheMainStreetDiet.com and they believe it is normal.
So, rather than blaming schools or other institutions, I recommend educating people about their Main Street that is killing them.
Ah, the Ford brothers. Helping to prepare Canada for the Tea Party revolution.
ReplyDeleteI believe we have 3 years and 9 months to go before we can get rid of those morons.
This being said, our mayor Rob Ford (brother of Doug Ford) was the subject of some pretty vicious fat bashing recently. Now Magazine--which has published several very intelligent and insightful analyses on how the Fords and their lackies are wreaking havoc on our city-- photoshopped Rob Ford's head onto the body of an obese man wearing boxer shorts. The fact that Rob in his skivvies probably does look at lot like the picture (which accompanies an article called "The Naked Truth About Rob Ford") does not give Now permission to mock someone because of their weight. (P.S. I just blogged about this story.)
I work in a hospital. Cafeteria serves pretty healthy food options. But I'd be really glad if they'd get rid of the junk food machine near my office. It's constantly calling my name during the mid-afternoon hungries.
ReplyDeleteWalking down the road to serfdom?
ReplyDeletePolitics aside, the Ford brothers aren't exactly the pictures of good health. They should lead by example and not whine and complain that someone wants to take away their junk food like a group of 5 year olds.
ReplyDeleteIf it isn't for the elected representatives of the public to decide what is to be sold in a public building, who else should decide? The King?
ReplyDeletePrivate businesses can put what they want in their machines, on private property.
Even rob ford can install a vending machine in his bathroom. No one is stopping him.
It's also pretty obvious that he doesn't even know what socialism is. He's just using it like a swear word.
Bostonian here - While I am all for having healthier choices in public places, this was nothing but a publicity stunt that will never have any effect. Boston is a walking city - full of pedestrians and there are many more live vendors selling ice cream, candy and other goodies than machines. There are convenience stores galore as well, not to mention outdoor restaurants which line Newbury street. Ice-cream trucks are a huge hit and banning those would cause an uproar! Plus, just a couple of subway stops away and you're in Cambridge or another of the numerous cities adjacent to Boston where the ban doesn't exist. - All in the summer of course. In the winter not too many people are interested in a cold soda.
ReplyDelete:-) to clarify, more live vendors (on private property) than machines. The vendors on public property are included in the ban. Also, if they're selling candy and ice cream and whatnot what good is it to ban cokes?
ReplyDelete