Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Soda Ban Innefective

By Marc Kilmer

It seems that one of the cornerstones of the health care nanny state -- banning soda in schools -- really doesn't do any good:

Does banning soft drink sales in elementary schools reduce how much soda children drink? Somewhat, but not much, a new study finds.
Researchers said that when they compared the soft drink consumption of children at schools where it was sold and children at schools where it was not, they did not find a big difference. Only about 4 percent fewer children from the no-soda schools said they did not drink it.

The type of social engineering typified by the soda ban is simplistic and ultimately ineffective. I'll bet that the public officials who are pushing for this ban will continue to do so, however, mainly because I suspect the bans are supported more for symbolic reasons rather than for any good they will accomplish. I'll also bet that policy makers will fail to learn the lesson that trying to ban products to improve health (trans fat, anyone?) just doesn't work.