Home California Bill To Require Warning Labels On Sodas and Other Sugary Drinks Advances

Bill To Require Warning Labels On Sodas and Other Sugary Drinks Advances

by ECT

On Thursday, the California State Senate voted 21-11 to move forward with a bill that would place warning labels on sodas and other sugary drinks sold in California.

The bill, SB 347, was authored by Senate Bill Monning, which was introducing in February which would:

This bill would establish the Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Safety Warning Act, which would prohibit a person from distributing, selling, or offering for sale a sugar-sweetened beverage in a sealed beverage container, a multipack of sugar-sweetened beverages, or a concentrate, as those terms are defined, in this state unless the sealed beverage container, multipack, or packaging of the concentrate bears a safety warning, as prescribed. The bill also would require every person who owns, leases, or otherwise legally controls the premises where a vending machine or beverage dispensing machine is located, or where a sugar-sweetened beverage is sold in an unsealed container, to place a specified safety warning in certain locations, including on the exterior of any vending machine that includes a sugar-sweetened beverage for sale.

This bill, commencing July 1, 2020, 2021, would make the first violation of the provisions described in (1) above, or regulations adopted pursuant to those provisions, result in a notice of violation, and a second or subsequent violation punishable by a civil penalty of not less than $50, but no greater than $500.

This bill would also create the Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Safety Warning Fund for the receipt of all moneys collected for violations of those provisions. The bill would allocate moneys in this fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the department for the purpose of enforcing those provisions.

Specifically, SB 347 would require beverages with added sweeteners that are 75 calories or more per 12 ounces to have the following safety-warning label.

“Drinking beverages with added sugar(s) may contribute to obesity, type 2 diabetes, and tooth decay.”

On March 28 when the bill passed out of the Senate Committee on Health on a 5-1 vote,
Senator Monning  said, “Consumers have the right to know about the adverse health impacts of the sugary beverages they purchase. A health-warning label provides science-based information that will inform consumer choice and lead to better health outcomes for all Californians.”

Comprehensive public health research has shown that sugar-sweetened beverages are one of the main drivers behind the skyrocketing rates of preventable health conditions like obesity and type-2 diabetes. Sugary drinks are unique contributors to the obesity epidemic, as they are the single largest source of added sugars in the American diet, and are a major source of excess calories that often provide no nutritional value.

Senator Monning added, “SB 347 doesn’t take sugary drinks off the shelves, and won’t prohibit Californians from purchasing the beverages they want. It simply provides consumers with evidence-based health information similar to labels that have been affixed to alcohol and tobacco products for decades.”

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7 comments

Waste May 25, 2019 - 12:18 pm

Another useless waste of tax payer money by an idiot politician!

Dawn Marie May 25, 2019 - 1:07 pm

Ahhhh, the NANNY-STATE is at it again! What’s next? I have great-grandparents who are sugar-sweetened carbonated drinks FANATICS who are 102 and 103 years old! Not a sick day in their lives! They love to drink cokes and munch on potato chips!

Alex May 25, 2019 - 2:02 pm

Here we go again! It’s against the law to drink using a straw, have your groceries packed into a plastic bag, can’t have a soft drink without WARNING LABELS, cannot have a BIG GULP without paying extra! …… and the list keeps growing! Anything else we cannot do?

Anytime Fitness May 25, 2019 - 5:49 pm

Heck yea! Please keep it coming- Tax it and label more warnings. Our country is FAT and LAZY! Its a disgrace!

KB May 26, 2019 - 12:46 am

Dumbest waste of time ever, parents should be the warning label. What the hell.

Captain May 26, 2019 - 2:02 pm

I mean why not, it wouldn’t hurt anything to be honest only help people out of what they are consuming. I don’t understand the hate here in the comments.

Anne Benning May 29, 2019 - 2:20 pm

I like sugary, highly carbonated drinks! I don’t care about any “warning” labels! I’m not fat nor lazy. I work out and I eat what I want. There is no history of any fat people in my family nor relatives.

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