Take soda out of food stamp elgibility?

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. David Paterson urged the U.S. Department of Agriculture to exclude sugar-sweetened beverages such as sodas and sports drinks from food stamp eligibility, because of their effects on obesity. Under the New York proposal, city food stamp recipients would not be able to buy soda using food stamps for two years.

?This initiative will give New York families more money to spend on foods and drinks that provide real nourishment,? Bloomberg said in a press release.

The Big Apple has been the vanguard in many health initiatives ? banning trans fats in restaurants, proposing the end of smoking in outdoor public areas and requiring calorie counts on the menu. The Chart: New York tries to ban outdoor smoking

The city also released this graphic that showed how neighborhoods that had the most food stamp recipients reported that 32 to 45 percent of the residents drank more than one sugar-sweetened beverage a day and experienced higher obesity rates. New York?s poorest households had 30 percent obesity compared with the wealthiest at 17 percent. This trend also reflected in the rate of type 2 diabetes, which was higher in poor residents (14 percent) compared with the wealthiest at 7 percent.

?The use of Food Stamp benefits to support the purchase of sugar sweetened drinks not only contradicts the intent of this vital program, but it also subsidizes a serious public health epidemic,? said Paterson in a statement.

?There is clear evidence that low-income individuals have higher rates of obesity and are more at risk of becoming obese than other groups. The serious chronic illnesses related to obesity ? diabetes, cancer and heart disease ? take a toll on our family, friends and neighbors, but also carry a cost that we all bear, as nearly half of the $147 billion spent nationally on treatment per year is paid by Medicaid and Medicare.?

Obesity-related illness leads to nearly $8 billion in medical costs annually for New York state residents, according to the press release.

The USDA runs the food stamp program, known as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. New York authorities say they seek to align the food stamps with USDA?s rules for the national school lunch program and the Women, Infants and Children program which does not allow for the purchase of sugary drinks. WIC provides foods and nutrition education for low-income pregnant and mothers to children under the age of five.

Dr. Kelly Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University said excluding soda from food stamps program would not unfairly target the poor.

"Using government funds to pay for things that so clearly contribute to ill health does not make sense, particularly when government agencies, including the USDA, are struggling to address the nation?s obesity problem.?

NY officials: Take soda out of food stamp program – The Chart - CNN.com Blogs

Take sodas and candy both out of the food stamp eligibility program.

Virginia should reconsider it too.

Considering the VA program has been renamed "Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program" they should take out the crap that has no nutrition. That doesn't mean they can't buy it, they just can't buy it as "Supplemental Nutrition" on taxpayer dime.

It's not discrimination. WIC is a form of state assistance and it already restricts purchases - it's extremely specific as to what you can buy and how much of it.

I remember people buying beer with Food Stamps.

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Originally Posted by imported_elp6n

virginia should reconsider it too.

Considering the va program has been renamed "supplemental nutrition assistance program" they should take out the crap that has no nutrition. That doesn't mean they can't buy it, they just can't buy it as "supplemental nutrition" on taxpayer dime.

It's not discrimination. Wic is a form of state assistance and it already restricts purchases - it's extremely specific as to what you can buy and how much of it.

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everything you said backed 100%

i have no problems with this at all, if they get it from the government then they have to deal with how the government decides.


but NY is trying to ban smoking outdoors? WTF? where do they expect smokers to go?
i know people dont like smokers on the whole, but do you really see how nuts that is? that is scary. when they start restricting freedoms outside, then we are all in trouble

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Originally Posted by Biggin

i have no problems with this at all, if they get it from the government then they have to deal with how the government decides.


but NY is trying to ban smoking outdoors? WTF? where do they expect smokers to go?
i know people dont like smokers on the whole, but do you really see how nuts that is? that is scary. when they start restricting freedoms outside, then we are all in trouble

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Smoking indoors is quite dangerous

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Originally Posted by collegetrumpet2010

Smoking indoors is quite dangerous

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reread what hearl wrote

There's an argument for and against this. The nutrition issue aside, you have people, up here especially, that take food stamps and buy nothing but cases of pop. I've been in Wal Mart and the local grocery stores on the first of the month and see people with shopping carts full of nothing but pop....you tell me somebody can drink that much in a month? It's no secret that these people trade the pop for drugs, which is about as lowlife as you can get.

On the other hand, this just seems to me like another way government is trying to inch their way to more and more control over peoples' lives....telling you what to eat, drink....somewhere down the road I would not be suprised if a legislator would try to introduce a bill that would tax the air we breathe....all in the guise of trying to clean the air. I've had to be on food stamps before inbetween jobs. I pay my taxes into that program and I feel if I want to buy porterhouse steaks with food stamps, that's my right.

Banning pop purchases on food stamps is the first step. I've heard talk before of taxing pop straight out. George Orwell's 1984 is beginning to look like not that far of a stretch.

Go to Jenkins at the first of the month. The amount of red bull sold there is unbelievable. Needs to be looked at everywhere. You can get a pound of pinto beens for under a dollar.