SAN FRANCISCO - U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders is telling the soft drink industry to stop using his name in ads fighting proposed soda taxes in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The Vermont senator said in a statement Thursday that campaign commercials and mailers implying that he opposes soda tax measures on the Nov. 8 ballot in San Francisco and Oakland are false.

Soda tax opponents, funded largely by the American Beverage Association, have touted Sanders in their campaign against the measures. Sanders opposed a soda tax in Philadelphia, calling it a regressive tax that would hurt poor consumers.

Sanders said Thursday that the the tax he opposed was much higher than those being considered in the Bay Area.

Opposition campaign spokesman Joe Arellano did not immediately respond to a request for comment.