California Wants Obesity Warning Lables on Soda

As of this morning, California legislators have proposed a bill that would require all sugary drinks sold in their state to carry labels warning consumers of a risk of obesity, diabetes, and tooth decay.

This bill was proposed in light of recent scientific findings that link added sugar not only to the U.S. obesity epidemic, but to increased risk of heart disease and type-two diabetes as well.

According to the Center for Agricultural Policy and Trade Studies, the U.S. consumes over 10,000,000 metric tons of sugar annually, a significant portion of that going into our soft drinks. According to several studies published by the Journal of the American Medical Association of Internal Medicine,  nearly 40 percent of the added sugar the average U.S. citizen consumes in a day is from soft drinks alone. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 36 percent of adults and 17 percent of children are obese.

Still, even with a mountain of evidence tying soda consumption to obesity, the bill is expected to face heavy opposition from the beverage industry, the sugar industry, and possibly even the California Supreme courts, where it could be argued that the state has no power to make such a restricting demand.

Back in 2012, New York State lawmakers tried to limit the size of soft drinks that could be provided in public restaurants. The law was successfully passed only to be invalidated by New York Supreme Court Judge Milton Tingling before it could be enacted. Since then, New York's higher court has agreed to hear an appeal, drawing out the battle over soda sovereignty.

And that may just be how things go with California's label law. California's San Francisco is currently struggling to also pass a soda law that would additionally tax the sugary drinks, but two Californian cities already failed in their attempts to impose the same tax.

However, as things stand, it appears a great many law-makers are in favor of the bill, which, if passed, would drop soft drinks into the same pool as warning-label-carrying alcohol and tobacco products.