New York City Defends Plan to End Soda Purchases Under SNAP

According to an April 29, 2011, New York Times article, a plan to regulate
purchases under the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
(SNAP) continues to gain steam in New York City, where officials recently
asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to approve a two-year pilot
project prohibiting the use of food stamps to buy sugar-sweetened beverages
with more than 10 calories per serving. Proponents of the measure
have apparently estimated that city residents each year spend “$75 million to
$135 million in food stamp benefits” on sugar-sweetened beverages, which
advocates say are “the single largest contributor to the obesity epidemic.” But
industry groups and other opponents have warned that the pilot project will
serve only to stigmatize some consumers while giving government leave to
police other purchasing decisions. “Once you start going into grocery carts,
deciding what people can or cannot buy, where do you stop?,” asked one
American Beverage Association spokesperson.

As the Times notes, these conflicting viewpoints have since placed President Barack Obama (D) in “an awkward situation.” Although USDA rejected a similar proposal in 2004, saying “There are no bad foods, only bad diets,” the Obama administration has also pledged “to solve the problem of childhood obesity within a generation.” Hoping to sway the discussion, lawmakers, lobbying firms and consumer groups, such as the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale, have all weighed in on the proposal. “Through the SNAP program, the government spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year buying beverages that have been linked to risks for obesity and diabetes,” Rudd Center Director Kelly Brownell told the Times. “These conditions cost the government and taxpayers billions of dollars a year in costs paid by Medicaid and Medicare.”