Watch Executive Director Baylen Linnekin Rip New York City's Proposed Soda Ban
Keep Food Legal executive director Baylen Linnekin appeared on the Washington, DC Fox affiliate yesterday to discuss New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposed ban on sweetened drinks greater than sixteen ounces. Linnekin appeared alongside Joy Dubost of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Watch the segment below (about 4 mins.) and try to figure out (as we're still doing after Linnekin noted it in the clip) why Mayor Bloomberg was so opposed to the health impact of soda yesterday that he signed an official proclamation letter celebrating National Donut Day (today), which will be read at today's New York City unveiling of "the largest box of Entenmann's donuts ever created."
That bit of amusing news should not distract, though, from the incredibly shortsighted and likely illegal nature of the proposed ban. If the mayor moves forward with the proposed ban, look to Keep Food Legal to oppose the measure zealously.
Update: Read Linnekin's Reason column on the soda ban.
Baylen Linnekin's Remarks from SoFAB Talk Now Online
The Southern Food & Beverage Museum’s new online magazine, OKRA, has published Baylen Linnekin’s remarks from the museum’s Capitol Hill event last week. Linnekin’s SoFAB Talk focused on the efficacy of taxes targeting sugary food and drink. A taste:
How far along the path to “stemming the tide” does a soda tax get us? I’ll let you be the judge. If middle-class weight-loss is negligible from a soda tax, how about for people in lower-income brackets who—after all—have higher rates of obesity to begin with? Finkelstein writes that obesity levels in lower-income families aren’t affected by a tax. Why not? He says low-income individuals simply switch to other untaxed sweetened alternatives—like juice—or switch to generic brands. What’s more—and this is a classic example of unintended consequences—some people simply switch to buying soda in bulk.
Read Linnekin’s complete remarks here. Thanks again to SoFAB for inviting Linnekin to speak, to his fellow panelist, and to Coca-Cola for sponsoring the discussion. Whether you’re in DC or New Orleans, where SoFAB is based, look for future SoFAB events here.
The Efficacy of Taxing Some Sugary Foods
That’s the issue Keep Food Legal executive director Baylen Linnekin will address at the inaugural SoFAB Talks, a Capitol Hill event to be held on Tuesday, January 25.
The talk, sponsored by the Coca-Cola Company, will benefit the Southern Food and Beverage Museum.
Support SoFAB in our nation’s capital by attending the first SoFAB Talk, featuring Baylen Linnekin, an attorney specializing in food and public policy, and Matthew Echols, director of Coca-Cola North America Government Relations for the Coca-Cola Company. They will discuss the legal issues and policy involved in taxing and controlling foods, as well as the economic and cultural impact of government intervention in food affairs.
This talk is the first of a proposed series of SoFAB Roundtable Talks that will allow experts to address different issues in the food and drink world in a casual setting. The Roundtables will bring together experts from a variety of disciplines and government posts to explore a contemporary food policy issue that impacts the consumption and/or perception of Southern food and beverages. Participants will represent a balance of food policy experts, members of the private and professional sectors, elected officials, policy-makers, academics, non-profit leaders and science and health experts.
More information here
Location: Dirksen 406
Time: Noon-2pm.
