Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently requested that the federal government give him permission to ban the use of New York City’s 1.7 million recipients of food stamps for purchases of soda or other sugar drinks.  The Mayor’s request – submitted to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for consideration – comes as a part of the City’s new initiative aimed at ending obesity through stricter rules on school nutrition programs and advertisements.

This new effort by Mayor Bloomberg to ban the use of food stamps for sodas comes on the heels of his push to impose a state tax on sugared drinks.  Thus far, no such tax has been imposed however the Mayor indicates he will not give up the fight and he has made a formal request for a ban on the use of food stamps for sodas for two years as part of a study to find out if such an effort will have a positive impact on health.