Rose Law Group Reporter Gripe of the Week
No, we’re not talking about bras.
You’ve no doubt heard a judge struck down New York’s limits on large sugary drinks, a day before they were to take effect. The ruling is a significant blow to one of the most ambitious and divisive initiatives of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s tenure—a fight against obesity.
“Obesity is bad, but arbitrary ‘nanny state’ intrusiveness and enforcement would be far worse, and would set a dangerous precedent for administrative abuses of power to achieve goals based on personal beliefs,” wrote Justice Milton A. Tingling Jr. of State Supreme Court in Manhattan.
Please allow me a minute to play nanny.
There was a day not that many years ago when people did not carry plastic bottles of water with them. Today, it’s a common site to see people in formal business attire, toting briefcases and a bottle of Aquafina. That’s fine, hydration is good.
Then there’s the dude who exits a convenience store with a plastic cup of drink that resembles a coffee cup pregnant with sextuplets and serves as nothing more than a billboard ad for the store.
In some cases, depending on the age of the buyer, it takes two hands to handle a 44 oz. Slurpee. Disgusting.
In many cases, the buyer is overweight. Who needs 44 oz. of anything in one dose?
Next thing you know, soft drinks will be sold like beer—in a keg!
Related: Regulate the Big Gulp?
