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France bans unlimited sugary drink refills

bbc.com

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Re: France bans unlimited sugary drink refills

#161

Post by johnchristopher »

wott wrote: post #160
johnchristopher wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is not entirely true. For instance you can't drink in the street or be inebriated in public places. France also used to serve wine in schools ( http://img.over-blog-kiwi.com/1/47/74/06/20160130/ob_1c8cee_... ). Maybe some law makers will come up with the idea to forbid sugary drinks and fast food to less than 18 or 21 years old (like it is for alcohol and cigarettes in some countries).

> For instance you can't drink in the street Untrue. A few municipalities forbid it, generally in specific places and/or for a specific duration, but the general rule is that it is allowed. > or be inebriated in public places. True, but not enforced. Only if you have done something wrong but they can't prove it or they don't want to bother proving it, they will (sometimes) charge you with that.

> > For instance you can't drink in the street

> Untrue. A few municipalities forbid it, generally in specific places and/or for a specific duration, but the general rule is that it is allowed.

My bad then: that's what I remembered from visiting France for some months at time.

Re: France bans unlimited sugary drink refills

#162

Post by drdaeman »

Retra wrote: post #147
drdaeman wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A proper balance is important, though. Let government regulate too much and things will get really bad. The problem is in defining what would be "too much" (and "too few"). Here, the opinions digress heavily.

Oh, of course. But this is a subject in where nobody gets hurt at all, and may even benefit some people.

I'm not exactly sure this doesn't hurt anyone at all. On the contrary, I believe there is some impact - although it's most likely not any heavy, and benefits to the society in general may[1] easily outweight.

I don't think businesses have those free refills out of pure generousity. There's most certainly some commercial incentive. Removing that must have some impact on businesses.

And it must also impact people who don't have weight or blood sugar issues, and have benefited from free refills. Heck, if I'm a regular at McDonalds, drink to my heart's content and government suddenly says "we forbid you to do that anymore - oh just think of those obese people!" I may be understanding but still I'll be sort of upset.

__

[1] May or may not. I dunno. Was there a proper scientific research?

Re: France bans unlimited sugary drink refills

#163

Post by tnzn »

gdulli wrote: post #123
jamesmp98 wrote: post #51

This is a human rights violation.

If your definition of "human rights violation" is any limitation on any freedom then it's a useless definition because "human rights" would then only exist under anarchy.

Nope, anarchy also has rules.

Re: France bans unlimited sugary drink refills

#164

Post by tnzn »

MarcusBrutus wrote: post #54

The depths of socialist / collectivist depravity that the French are willing to descend to are mind-staggering. And to think that, from time to time, one sees in HN some random joke of a post portraying France as a plausible startup location. Quelle décadence!

Do you even know the meaning of the words to use ?

Re: France bans unlimited sugary drink refills

#165

Post by TazeTSchnitzel »

ArmandGrillet wrote: post #65
TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #10

Does it affect drinks containing sugar exclusively, or does this also affect sugar-free soft drinks?

"Interdiction de la mise à disposition de boissons à volonté, gratuites ou pour un prix forfaitaire, avec ajout de sucres ou d'édulcorants de synthèse" : it affects drinks with added sugar and/or synthetic sweeteners (e.g. Coca Cola Zero).

Oh, it's nonsense then. Artificially sweetened drinks don't create obesity.

Re: France bans unlimited sugary drink refills

#166

Post by MarcusBrutus »

tnzn wrote: post #164
MarcusBrutus wrote: post #54

The depths of socialist / collectivist depravity that the French are willing to descend to are mind-staggering. And to think that, from time to time, one sees in HN some random joke of a post portraying France as a plausible startup location. Quelle décadence!

Do you even know the meaning of the words to use ?

... asks the one who can't write 11 words without a syntactic error (in case you edit it: "Do you even know the meaning of the words to use ?"). Also be advised that it's not correct typography to prepend the question mark with a space.

Re: France bans unlimited sugary drink refills

#167

Post by DrScump »

aembleton wrote: post #104
stinos wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, and probably many Europeans: yes, that is how we are raised. It's not su much of being taboo, more like a sense that it makes no sense to waste anything (not just food/water) and is bad for the planet in general. (well, there is truth in that). My parents even had a picture of a bunch of underfed kids from Ethiopia (or so) on the wall in the kitchen. If we didn't eat our plate, they'd point to it and say some…

My parents had the same attitude and I'm from the UK. My Dad passed away at a younger age than his father from obesity related conditions and it was then that I realised that my parents generation (born in the 50s) were the first in history to have access to unlimited food. Their own parents had instilled in them this view that you must finish your plate. They had experience of rationing. My parents continued this at…

  Their own parents had instilled in them this view that you must finish your plate. They had experience of rationing.
In the wake of WW2 clear into the 1950s, there were food shortages in Europe, with hunger and malnutrition. Even Americans were guilted into not wasting food. For example, Allan Sherman (an overweight Jewish American comedian, sort of a Weird Al Yankovic of his era) said in a song monologue:

'My parents would say, "clean your plate; children are starving in Europe!"

So, I would clean the plate.

Four, five, six times a day.'

Re: France bans unlimited sugary drink refills

#168

Post by DrScump »

davidivadavid wrote: post #148
nilkn wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never felt this pressure in the US. For food , sure. I was always told growing up to finish my food at each meal. But for water or soda, never.

So it was a common occurrence that you would fill a full glass of soda and dump half of it in the sink?

No, it's comment occurrence to say, "no, thank you" when the pitcher-bearer approaches, or turn that glass over.

Re: France bans unlimited sugary drink refills

#169

Post by stinos »

davidivadavid wrote: post #151
stinos wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The state "knows better", and you have lots of people agreeing. Doesn't obesity prove, in this case, the state really does know better? You could argue people are free to be as obese as they want, but only knowingly imo. The actual problem is a lot of people don't realize they're basically being tricked into unhealthy obese living by MegaCorps wanting to get them hooked on their product.

Does it? For there to be a proof of any kind, you'd have to see what impact the ban is going to have, surely?

Hmm, got me there. I indeed cannot predict how tis will turn out.

Re: France bans unlimited sugary drink refills

#170

Post by Oletros »

MarcusBrutus wrote: post #75
realusername wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

socialist = banning unlimited soda refills ? seriously ?

If a business is willing to offer me free soda refills and I freely choose to patronize thar business, then it takes a hardcore Stalinist to dare stand between us two and prevent by the force of guns this peacefull, voluntary exchange. Does one really need to explain that in the 21st century?

> then it takes a hardcore Stalinist

Hyperbole like this is what makes those arguments ridiculous.

Or perhaps you don't know what Stalinism, Socialism and Communism is and see it everywhere, like witches in the Middle Ages

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