N.Y. Mayor’s Salt War Costs Taxpayers $370k

The big-city mayor who wants government to control the American diet has launched a widespread anti-salt campaign that’s costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

It’s simply New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s latest effort to dictate what the public should consume. The millionaire mayor, a self-professed salt and junk-food lover who eats plenty of both, has already used City Hall to ban trans fats in restaurants, force eateries to post calorie counts and target soda. When his proposal to create a statewide tax on soda failed, Bloomberg tried to ban New York City residents from using food stamps to purchase it.

Now he’s using public funds to promote his so-called healthy eating crusade with an advertising campaign that targets salt in canned soup. City taxpayers and the federal government will dish out $370,000 to plaster subways with colorful ads warning of the high-sodium dangers in canned soups. They feature salt gushing out of a partially opened soup can and a stern warning that “too much salt can lead to heart attack and stroke.”

The campaign is part of the mayor’s National Salt Reduction Initiative, a city health department group created to cut sodium levels by 25% in packaged and restaurant foods in the next five years. New York’s new anti-salt group recently got a chunk of change from the federal government to help fulfill its mission. Last month the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) gave it $412,195 as part of the agency’s $1.9 million sodium reduction initiatives.

The CDC claims the money will support policy strategies to create healthier food environments specifically targeting sodium intake. Other recipients include the state of California ($412,198), Los Angeles County ($363,366) and Kansas ($412,197).