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TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2013
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Last-minute decision repeals NY drink ban
NATIONAL
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — A judge struck down New York City's pioneering ban on big, sugary drinks Monday just hours before it was supposed to take effect, handing a defeat to health-minded Mayor Michael Bloomberg and creating confusion for restaurants that had already ordered smaller cups and changed their menus.
State Supreme Court Justice Milton Tingling said the 16-ounce limit on sodas and other sweet drinks is too arbitrary because it applies to only some sugary beverages and some places that sell them.
"The loopholes in this rule effectively defeat the stated purpose of this rule." Tingling wrote in a victory for the beverage industry, restaurants and other business groups that called the rule unfair and wrong-headed.
Further, the Bloomberg-appointed Board of Health went beyond its authority in approving the size limit, the judge said, agreeing with the critics that the matter should have been up to the elected City Council.
The city vowed to appeal the ruling, issued by New York state's
trial level court. But for now, it means the ax won't fall Tuesday on supersized sodas, sweetened teas and other high-sugar beverages in restaurants, movie theaters, corner delis and sports
arenas.
"The court ruling provides a sigh of relief to New Yorkers and thousands of small businesses in New York City that would have been harmed by this
corporation counsel.
The first of its kind in the country, the restriction has sparked reaction from city streets to late-night talk shows, celebrated by some as a
"The court ruling provides a sigh of relief to New Yorkers and thousands of small businesses..."
AMERICAN BEVERAGE ASSOCIATION Opposes the ban
arbitrary and unpopular ban," the American Beverage Association and other opponents said, adding that the organization is open to other "solutions that will have a meaningful and lasting impact."
The city expressed confidence that it would win on appeal.
"This measure is part of the city's multi-pronged effort to combat the growing obesity epidemic, which takes the lives of more than 5,000 New Yorkers every year, and we believe the Board of Health has the legal authority — and responsibility — to tackle its leading causes," said Michael A. Cardozo, the city's
bold attempt to improve people's health and derided by others as another "nanny state" law from Bloomberg during his 11 years in office.
On his watch, the city has compelled chain restaurants to post calorie counts, barred artificial trans fats in restaurant food and prodded food manufacturers to use less salt. The city has successfully defended some of those initiatives in court.
Beverage makers had expected to spend about $600,000 changing bottles and labels, movie theater owners feared losing soda sales that account for 10 percent of their profits, and delis and restaurants would have had to change inventory, reprint menus and make other adjustments, according to court papers.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
In this March 8, 2013 file photo, customers at Brother Jimmy's BBQ call cheers with 24-ounce, left, and 16-ounce beverages, in New York. New York City's groundbreaking limit on the size of sugar-laden drinks has been struck down by a judge shortly before it was set to take effect.
POLICE REPORTS
A 25-year-old male was arrested yesterday on the 500 block of 7th Street under suspicion of no valid driver's license, interfering with an officer's duties and failure to appear in municipal and district courts. A $688 bond was paid.
A 35-year-old female was arrested Sunday on the 300 block of Stockade under suspicion of domestic battery and escape from custody. No bond was posted.
A 35-year-old male was arrested Sunday on the 300 block of Stockade under suspicion of domestic battery and aggressive assault. No bond was posted.
- Emily Donovan
HEALTH
PTSD victims experience stress-induced cardiac problems
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN FRANCISCO — Stress does bad things to the heart. New studies have found higher rates of cardiac problems in veterans with PTSD, New Orleans residents six years after Hurricane Katrina and Greeks struggling through that country's financial turmoil.
Disasters and prolonged stress can raise "fight or flight" hormones that affect blood pressure, blood sugar and other things in ways that make heart trouble more likely, doctors say. They also provoke
anger and helplessness and spur heart-harming behaviors like eating or drinking too much.
"We're starting to connect emotions with cardiovascular risk markers" and the new research adds evidence of a link, said Dr. Nieca Goldberg, a cardiologist at NYU Langone Medical Center and an American Heart Association spokeswoman.
She had no role in the studies, which were discussed Sunday at an American College of Cardiology conference in San Francisco.
The largest, involving 207,954 veterans in California and Nevada
ages 46 to 74, compared those with PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder, to those without it. They were free of major heart disease and diabetes when researchers checked their Veterans Administration medical records from 2009 and 2010.
Checked again about two years later, 35 percent of those with PTSD but only 19 percent of those without it had developed insulin resistance, which can lead to diabetes and hardening of the arteries.
Doctors also saw higher rates of metabolic syndrome — a collection of heart disease risk factors that
include high body fat, cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar levels. About 53 percent of veterans with PTSD but only 37 percent of those without it had several of these symptoms.
The numbers are estimates and are not as important as the trend more heart risk with more stress, said one study leader, Dr. Ramin Ebrahimi, a cardiologist at the Greater Los Angeles VA Medical Center and a professor at UCLA. It shows that PTSD can cause physical symptoms, not just the mental ones commonly associated with it.
"Twenty or 30 years ago PTSD
was a term reserved for combat veterans. We have come to realize now that PTSD is actually a much more common disorder and it can happen in veterans who did not undergo combat but had a very traumatic experience" such as losing a friend, he said.
That goes for others who suffer trauma such as being raped, robbed at gunpoint or in a serious accident, he said. Nearly 8 million Americans have PTSD, that National Institute of Mental Health estimates.
They include survivors of Hurricane Katrina. Tulane Medical Center doctors led a study of their
hospital's patients that suggests heart attack incidence is three times higher in New Orleans than it was in the two years before the 2005 storm.
A third study found that heart attacks rose sharply in the Messinia area of southwestern Greece since January 2008, the start of that country's financial crisis.
There were 1,084 heart attacks in the four years after the crisis began compared to 841 in the four years before it, even though the population and its demographics remained the same.