San Francisco Supervisors Moving to Regulate Soda

You may remember that San Francisco voters rejected a soda tax last fall. The tax failed to get the two-thirds vote it needed, but did get a solid majority -- 55 percent.

Three San Francisco supervisors are taking that voter sentiment and moving ahead with proposed ordinances that -- while short of a tax -- would still regulate soda and other sugary beverages in other ways.

Yesterday, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Land Use Committee passed three ordinances with a "positive recommendation," meaning they recommend the full board pass all three.

The ordinances would require warning labels on advertising for soda and other sugary drinks, ban ads on city property and bar city departments from buying or selling the drinks.

Supervisor Scott Wiener, one of the authors of the soda tax proposal, cited research showing negative health effects of the beverages.

"These drinks are making our community less healthy and helping to accelerate disease in our community, Type 2 diabetes first and foremost," Wiener said.

Speakers lined up to testify in favor of the proposals, including doctors and advocates. But the American Beverage Association was represented as well, and dietitian Liz Katic, a consultant with the group, testified against the ordinances.

She said she agreed that obesity and related health problems are serious issues, "but I want to say it’s overly simplistic, not to mention potentially misleading, to single out sugar-sweetened beverages as the driving cause of Type 2 diabetes and obesity."

Local moves like these ordinances in San Francisco are having some success where statewide efforts are stalling.

Berkeley passed the first soda tax in the country last fall. Last week, the Davis City Council approved an ordinance requiring that all restaurants serving children's meals make milk or water the first choice offered -- although parents can still request soda.

Meanwhile, in Sacramento last month, both a statewide soda warning label and a 2-cents-an -ounce soda tax failed to get out of committee