Boston Considers Sweet Drink Ban in City Buildings

BOSTON – Boston, the city that has already banned smoking in bars and trans-fats in restaurants, now wants to keep sugary drinks out of city-owned buildings.

The city has convened health, education, and housing leaders to develop a policy that aims to reduce consumption of sugar-sweetened sodas and other beverages.

Panel member Bill Walczak, head of a community health center, tells The Boston Globe that "somebody has to take a stand" to control the consumption of sugar-laden drinks blamed in part for the nation's obesity epidemic.

Barbara Ferrer, executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission, expects resistance to an outright ban. She says people look at sweetened beverages differently from tobacco.

A spokesman for a national soft drink organization called a ban an "overly simplistic" way to fight obesity.