Soda Ban Cons

Is the well-being of the public worth giving up a little freedom? There have been different opinions on Mayor Bloomberg’s soda ban in New York City. Some say it takes away freedoms, while others believe it benefits the public’s health. The soda ban is a good idea because soda is unhealthy and people need guidance to make decisions. To start off, the soda ban is appropriate because it helps people make better decisions. Sarah Conly states in the opinion piece “Three Cheers for the Nanny State” that “there are a number of areas in which we fairly dependably fail. They call such a tendency a ‘cognitive bias’ and there are many of them- a lot of ways in which our own minds trip us up.” Conly declares that at times, people fail at making decisions that are good for them, and may benefit from some help. Furthermore, Conly says “It’s well established by now that we often don’t think very clearly when it comes to choosing the best means to attain our ends. We make errors. This has been the object of an enormous amount of study over the past few decades and what has been discovered is that we are all prone to identifiable and predictable miscalculations.” The author writes that humans have natural flaws in decision making, such as drinking what seems like a harmless little extra soda. However, these mistakes can be prevented by limiting the size of sodas, which guides customers to lower their consumption of it. So, the limit on soda leads consumers to make better choices for themselves. The second and more obvious reason why the soda ban would benefit people is because soda negative health effects. In “Pop Science: The Case for and Against the Soda Ban” an article by Liz Newport, it states, “Sugary drinks are the single biggest source of calories in the American diet...statistics show both consumption of sweetened beverages and obesity rates have doubled since the 1970s.” This shows that soda is a major part of an American’s calorie intake. In addition, it describes the relationship between sugary drinks and obesity. Harvard TH Chan wrote in the article “Sugary Drinks and Obesity Fact Sheet” that “those who averaged one can of a sugary beverage per day had a 20% higher risk of having a heart attack or dying from a …show more content…
The so called “soda ban” isn’t really a ban on soda, people can still easily and legally buy it. For those that don’t mind the health effects or really enjoy soda, they can still buy more, smaller sized beverages. But for most people, it would cause them to make healthier choices in life. Revisiting the article of Sarah Conly, it is written, “Giving up a little liberty is something we agree to when we agree to live in a democratic society that is governed by laws. The freedom to buy a really large soda, all in one cup, is something we stand to lose here. For most people, given their desire for health, that results in a net gain. For some people, yes, it's an absolute loss. It’s just not much of a loss.” The author explains that sometimes people have to give something up for the better of many people. In this case the majority benefits from the soda limitation, but everyone else still has the right to soda. To summarize, although the new law limits soda, it benefits many