Bloomberg on anti-soda ban laws: "It's farce"

(CBS News) On Monday, a New York judge ruled against Mayor Bloomberg's ban on sugary drinks. Wednesday, Bloomberg told "CBS This Morning" that "the judge couldn't be more wrong. We assume we will prevail in court."

Bloomberg defended himself against accusations of creating a so-called nanny state in New York City, explaining that "this year, more people will die form over eating than from starvation" and insisted that federal and state efforts to address the problem are insufficient.

"We asked ... they did nothing ... that's exactly what's happening across this country. It's the cities that are doing things. That's the reason for the challenge, Bloomberg said, touching on his recent Bloomberg Philanthropies' Mayor's Challenge, a competition designed to inspire other mayors to develop new solutions to problems facing America's cities.

Bloomberg also took on the Mississippi legislators who have proposed an "anti-Bloomberg" law, which prohibits counties within the state from enacting legislation that requires calorie counts or imposes limits on beverage sizes.

"How can somebody try to pass a law that deliberately says we can't improve the lives of our citizens? It's farce," he said, before adding, "Ask anybody, would they roll back the smoking ban? Would they roll back getting lead paint out of classrooms? I don't think any of these things would get rolled back."

Providence Mayor Angel Taveras, who recently won the 2012-2013 Mayor's Challenge and joined Mayor Bloomberg on "CBS This Morning" said that he would theoretically support legislation similar to the soda ban in his own city, explaining "in Providence and around the country, we look to Mayor Bloomberg for his leadership" regarding issues of public health and on other issues, including the fight against gun violence.

Bloomberg said that in his winning proposal, Taveras addressed the vocabulary gap in lower-income children -- "one of the fundamental problems" in the U.S., he said.

Taveras explained the project, saying "We're using a recording device with technology from Colorado that will record the number of words that they hear and it also can distinguish between TV and people speaking directly with the child and then we're going to be visiting parents ... and helping parents ... to increase that word count, to increase communications with their children"

For more from Bloomberg and Mayor Taveras on gun violence and how to address problems at the city government level, watch the video above.