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Mississippi Passes Anti-Bloomberg Bill

Not against the NYC mayor himself, but the soda ban stuff

by
Adam Chandler
March 14, 2013
(NYDN)
(NYDN)

A state judge may have shot down New York City Michael Bloomberg’s sugary drinks ban, but the saccharine ripples of El Bloombito’s legislative initiatives have traveled far and (extra) wide.

According to a report, the Mississippi Legislature has passed (and is expected to pass) a bill making the body the sole arbiter of restrictions on the diets of its citizens, thereby cutting the cities or counties out of the equation.

To that end, the people who govern the state with the highest rate of obesity in the nation have passed a bill saying that any law that might restrict what Mississippians eat or drink has to go through them — barring federal regulations.



That means that cities or counties cannot enact rules limiting soda size, salt content, shortening in cookies, toys in fast-food meals for children, how a menu is written or just about any other aspect of the daily dining experience in Mississippi.

It’s being informally called the “Anti-Bloomberg bill.” In other words, after all this, Michael Bloomberg may be responsible for actually making people fatter.

Adam Chandler was previously a staff writer at Tablet. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, Slate, Esquire, New York, and elsewhere. He tweets @allmychandler.