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01:23 - Source: CNN
CNN  — 

Mike Bloomberg’s campaign slogan is that he “will get it done.”

Bloomberg is running on his record of accomplishments as mayor of New York City from 2002 through 2013, including economic revitalization, environmental measures and public safety improvements.

But he is also a big proponent of public health, particularly getting people to smoke less and eat better. The media mogul’s actions as mayor helped pave the way for other cities and states – and even the federal government – to enact similar measures, public health advocates say.

“When New York City does it, it’s the spark,” said Rob Crane, founder of Preventing Tobacco Addiction Foundation, a non-profit consumer group that is not funded by the former mayor.

Here are three examples of Bloomberg initiatives that went national:

Requiring chain restaurants to post calorie counts

Bloomberg pushed to mandate chain restaurants to post calorie information on their menus and food display tags. He did not back down after the state restaurant lobbying group won an initial round in federal court, instead rewriting the rules so they did not conflict with federal law.

The city’s Board of Health regulation applied to more than 1,500 chain restaurants with 15 or more outlets nationwide, starting in 2008. It was intended to give consumers more information to make healthier choices.

California and Vermont, as well as Montgomery County in Maryland and Albany, Suffolk and Ulster counties in New York, were among the places to follow suit with menu labeling policies.

In 2010, the Obama administration included a calorie count mandate in the Affordable Care Act. It took effect in 2018, requiring such information be posted on menus in chain restaurants, movie theaters and other establishments, as well as for prepared food at supermarkets and convenience stores.

“New York City really helped to clear a path for other states and localities and, eventually, Congress,” said Margo Wooten, vice president for nutrition at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group that’s spearheaded the effort nationwide. It is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the former mayor’s charitable foundation.

Reducing smoking through bans, taxes and minimum age changes

One of Bloomberg’s top priorities is to reduce tobacco use. As mayor, he introduced multiple measures aimed at curbing smoking.

Among the last acts of his administration was to sign landmark legislation in late 2013 to raise the minimum age to buy tobacco products to 21, making the city the first major city or state to do so. Congress made the minimum age 21 nationwide as of this year.

Tobacco control was also one of the first steps Bloomberg took as mayor. In 2002, he hiked the cigarette tax to $1.50 a pack, up from 8 cents, a much more aggressive approach than other places and the first of several increases during his tenure. It made buying a pack of smokes among the most expensive in the nation.

That same year, he signed the Smoke-Free Air Act, which banned smoking in indoor workplaces – particularly restaurants and bars. Until then, eateries with seating for more than 35 people could maintain smoking sections and bars were excluded from the city’s anti-smoking law.

On the 10-year anniversary of the ban, Bloomberg said “opponents of the Smoke-Free Air Act said it would hurt the restaurant and bar business, damage our tourism industry and lead to job losses and lost tax revenue. But in fact, just the opposite happened.”

Bloomberg also expanded the law to prohibit smoking on the grounds of health care facilities and then in public parks, beaches and pedestrian plazas.

And he stopped the sale of flavored non-cigarette tobacco products, other than menthol. The city prevailed in a lawsuit challenging the flavored tobacco ordinance, which other municipalities use as a model for their efforts to restrict the sale of flavored tobacco and vaping products, according to Ilana Knopf, director of the Public Health and Tobacco Policy Center, which receives funding from New York State to work on tobacco initiatives but not from Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Also, the mayor broadened the anti-smoking laws to include e-cigarettes, well before the dangers of vaping became known.

The smoking rate among adults dropped from 21.5% in 2002 to a low of 14% in 2010, before climbing to 16.1% in 2013. City health officials at the time blamed budget cuts in the wake of the Great Recession for the increase.

While some cities and states had or were working on smoke-free laws at the same time, others were emboldened by Bloomberg’s move, said Cynthia Hallett, CEO of Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights, an advocacy group that does not receive funding from the former mayor. Some 26 states and more than 1,000 municipalities enacted comprehensive smoking bans like New York City’s after 2002.

“Bloomberg was willing to take on the bully and not let the industry misinform and manipulate the information about the health benefits of going smoke free,” said Hallett, helping cause a “domino effect.”

Eliminating artificial trans fat in restaurants

Most trans fat is created by adding hydrogen to vegetable oil, which gives it a longer shelf life. Often used in fried foods, baked goods, salad dressing, margarine and other products, trans fat is linked to an increased risk of heart disease.

Under Bloomberg, the city’s Board of Health banned restaurants from using all but a tiny bit of artificial trans fat, becoming the first major municipality to do so. The measure was phased in over 2007 and 2008.

Restaurants complained bitterly, saying it would change the taste and texture of the food they served.

Other major cities and counties soon enacted their own bans, including Philadelphia, Boston and Baltimore, as well as King County in Washington and Nassau and Westchester counties in New York.

Artificial trans fat has now been banned in food nationwide. The federal Food and Drug Administration in 2015 told food manufacturers they had to stop using partially hydrogenated oils in their products within three years.

Failing to ban the sale of large sugary drinks

Not all of Bloomberg’s efforts, however, were successful.

The mayor also fought with the soda industry, attempting to become the first in the country to ban the sale of certain sugary drinks larger than 16 fluid ounces at restaurants and other food service establishments. He lost the battle of the Big Gulp, as it became known. A court ruled in favor of the industry in his final year in office.

Bloomberg also failed in his attempt to convince the New York State Legislature to impose a so-called soda tax.