Mayor Bloomberg’s having a hard time swallowing this one.
The feds yesterday rejected his attempt to get soda and other sugary drinks banned from the list of products one can buy in New York with food stamps.
The news came in a call from US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, said mayoral spokesman Stu Loeser. The city applied last October for a waiver of the food-stamp regulations in hope of conducting a two-year experiment to see whether eliminating sweetened beverages would reduce obesity and diabetes among recipients.
Experts had warned the odds of winning approval were slim. Still, the decision left a bad taste in the mayor’s mouth.
“We think our innovative pilot would have done more to protect people from the crippling effects of preventable illnesses like diabetes and obesity than anything else being proposed anywhere else in the country — and at little or no cost to taxpayers,” Bloomberg said.
“We’re disappointed that the federal government didn’t agree, and sorry that families and children may suffer from [its] unwillingness to explore our proposal.”