San Francisco Board of Supervisors Overrides Mayoral Veto of Toy Ban

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has overruled Mayor Gavin Newsom’s
(D) veto of a bill prohibiting restaurants from offering toy giveaways in
children’s meals deemed too high in calories, salt or fat. Under the law, which
takes effect in December 2011, restaurants can only provide toys with meals
containing fewer than 600 calories and 640 milligrams of sodium, and if fat makes up less than 35 percent of the total calories.

In vetoing the measure, Newsom called the legislation an “intrusive and ineffective approach” to combat the problem and “unprecedented governmental intrusion into parental responsibilities and private choices.” But Supervisor Eric Mar (D) told a news source after the November 23, 2010, veto override that parents and health advocates support the measure to help curb childhood obesity. “From the Institutes of Medicine to the World Health Organization, we know that reducing the consumption of junk food by kids could spare the health of millions and save billions of dollars to our overstrapped public health system,” Mar said. See CNN.com, November 23, 2010.