They state:
At Monday evening’s City Council meeting, Mayor Henrietta J. Davis
proposed a resolution to investigate the possibility of limiting the
size of sodas and other sugary drinks in local restaurants.
“This
is motivated from a concern about health and children’s health,” said
Davis, who has served as co-chair of the Cambridge Healthy Children Task
Force since 1990.
“All this positive work can only go so far when the environment is filled with two size servings of soda,” Davis said.
The
resolution recommends that the Cambridge Public Health Department
examine whether or not a ban on large servings of soda would help to
reduce obesity. In an emailed statement, the city’s Chief Public Health
Officer Claude-Alix Jacob wrote that the department would have a
decision ready by the fall.
Davis noted the similarities between this resolution and
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s initiative to limit sodas over
sixteen ounces, an act that has drawn accolades from Alec Baldwin and
criticism from the New York State Restaurant Association, which labeled
the act the “latest in a long list of anti-restaurant initiatives.”
As we have explained with our previous discussion of the Bloomberg Rule, this adds costs but in reality has no effect. One suspects it is a "feel good" approach. Instead of one large soda they get six small ones.
As usual, the law of unintended consequences will follow through.
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