N.Y. Asks USDA to Ban Food-Stamp Use for Sugary Soda
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New York City and state officials want the U.S. Department of Agriculture to ban the use of food stamps to buy sugary soft drinks for two years to curb obesity-related diseases among the city’s poor.
Sugar-sweetened beverages are “the largest single contributor to the obesity epidemic,” Governor David Paterson and Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a joint statement in advance of a City Hall news briefing today. Obesity is almost twice as prevalent among the city’s poorest households as in the wealthiest, they said.