S.F. pushes legislation to promote good health

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

Last week, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to make the city the first in the country to ban the sale of cigarettes in pharmacies such as Walgreens and Rite Aid.

And that's only the city's latest effort to make us all healthier.

The supervisors also voted to require chain restaurants to post nutritional information, including calories and fat content, on menus. This follows the creation of a program to recognize restaurants that don't use trans fats and an idea by Mayor Gavin Newsom to levy a fee on retailers of sugary sodas.

The board is also taking up legislation to dramatically curb where smokers can light up, including prohibiting puffing in taxis, lines for ATMs and common areas of apartment buildings. And Newsom wants to close some streets to cars on select Sundays so people can jog, hula-hoop and lay out their yoga mats on the pavement.

What's next from City Hall? A mandate to eat your broccoli and hit the treadmill 30 minutes every day?

"Next, it'll be if you're fat and eating sugar, you'll get a ticket," scoffed Chris Carillo, a 41-year-old software engineer who lives in Polk Gulch. "There's crime on the streets, homeless people congregating, a lot of grime. I'd rather see them concentrate on that."

Click on the link to read the whole article and see the table of Nanny State proposals.