Trade group: Pull soda from elementary schools

[Eugene]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002442903_soda17m.html

Wednesday, August 17, 2005 - Page updated at 12:00 AM

Trade group: Pull soda from elementary schools

By Rachel La Corte

The Associated Press

OLYMPIA — The American Beverage Association recommended yesterday that
soda and other sweetened beverages be pulled from vending machines at
elementary schools across the country, saying the industry needs to help
fight the increasing rate of childhood obesity.

ABA President and CEO Susan Neely was to announce the organization's new
policy recommendation today at the annual meeting of the National
Conference of State Legislatures in Seattle.

"Childhood obesity is a real problem," Neely said. "The individual
companies have been doing several things to be part of the solution and
there was an agreement among all of our leadership that we needed to
take another step and take it as an industry."

<snip>

The association's recommendation isn't binding, but Neely said the
20-member board represents 85 percent of the bottlers involved in
school vending.

more...

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[Starbucks Anarchist]

3. Please tell me you're kidding.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

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[Starbucks Anarchist]

5. LOL, nice find!

:)

[bluestateguy]

2. Food Police strike again! Don't these people have anything better to do?

Forgive me if this "issue" is not a priority for me.

There is a war going on that occupies much more of my attention.

[jmowreader]

8. These guys ain't exactly the "food police"

The American Beverage Association, the group that wants soda pulled from elementary schools, is the trade group for the "refreshment beverage" industry. (I stole that term from their own website.)

I'm trying to think of a simile for this but it's hard--a group saying they think a large portion of their market should be restricted from buying their product.

Pretty cool, actually.

[krkaufman]

15. I expect they were becoming concerned about liability suits down the road

[jmowreader]

18. That, or they're trying to deflect negative publicity

You know, like if a latter-day Morgan Spurlock made a film where all he drank for 30 days is soda out of a machine, and we got to see the results of his dental exam and weigh-in at the end. It wouldn't be quite as dramatic as the results of Spurlock's transformation from regular Joe to super-fatass, but you'd see things you'd rather not see.

Consider this, though: The two biggest soft drink makers in the United States are Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola. Coca-Cola owns Minute Maid, Dasani, Evian, Hi-C, Powerade and Fruitopia. Pepsi-Cola makes Aquafina, Dole's juice lines, Gatorade, Tropicana, flavored milk drinks, and SoBe. There is no parent in America who wouldn't let their kid buy drinks from a machine that was full of Aquafina or Dasani water and Minute Maid or Dole 100% fruit juices. And the profit margins from those healthful products are probably as good as or better than the profit margins from water with corn syrup in it. (The profit margin on water has got to be astronomical--it costs as much as soda, and it contains exactly one of the ingredients in soda and the least expensive one at that. It doesn't even have any CO2!)

In other words, "we want you to ban sodas in schools because we WANT to reset the machines to contain products we're really gonna make a killing on."

[krkaufman]

23. I like that take..! Max profits on bottled water. n/t

[K-W]

14. Odd then that you read/posted on this thread.

You may not prioritize this issue, but you do apparently prioritize berating this issue.

[PunkPop]

21. Yes, the war is certainly a tragedy and should be a top priority.

But so are the huge numbers of obese and diabetic young people in this country.

Your characterization of the ABA as the "Food Police" is slightly hysterical.

I commend them on this action. It is a very important public health issue.

[pinniped]

6. A semi-solution. X-ray their lunch boxes, lunch pails, and paper sacks.

.

[Fridays Child]

7. And the parents that get caught sneaking the stuff in their kids' lunches?

Off with their heads!

:evilgrin:

[RC]

9. They can start by removing the junk food vending machines from the schools

[Toots]

13. Evidently you don't understand what you read

There was no mention of restricting anything brought from home, only what was furnished at the schools. Like from vending machines or school lunches. Why should there be vending machines in a school? What possible good do they accomplish. There are water fountains and those should suffice.

[jmowreader]

19. I'll tell you what possible good they accomplish

They provide money to help keep the schools solvent. Think of them as a bake sale with no hash brownies.

[PunkPop]

22. So trading children's health for financial security?

I prefer to think of them as what they are - syrupy, carbonated crap that's poisoning our young people.

[jmowreader]

25. More like financial survival

Do me a favor, please: About three weeks from now the school year will be in full swing everywhere. Get in your car on Saturday morning and drive around town looking for places where schoolkids are holding car washes.

Then look at what the car wash is for.

In days of old, the cheerleaders would wash cars to raise money for...something the team needed. Many cheerleading squads require the cheerleaders to supply their own uniforms and shoes; all of them require the cheerleaders provide their own stockings and pay for the ton of makeup all cheerleaders wear when they cheer. And because the cheerleading team isn't the football team, the cheerleaders are invariably on the short end of the stick when it comes to doling out activity funds...even though, quite often, the cheerleaders are the only thing at the game that's worth watching. A few weeks before the end of school here, I stopped by a cheerleader car wash and was informed that they were buying library books with their proceeds. "Well, then, wash it twice."

Got news for ya: thanks to Mr. Bush and his No Child Left Untested initiative, schools have to pay more money than ever before to meet government expectations. Fuckin' Republicans say they hate unfunded mandates but NCLB was a big one. If the schools want to do anything but pay for testing, testing, testing...they need to scrape up cash any way they possibly can.

Hence, coke machines.

[PaulaFarrell]

33. That's a pretty big generalisation

Maybe in your town, but in my old school, they recently passed a bond election to build classrooms. Guess what the school spent the money on ? A 'natatorium' - an indoor, olympic-sized swimming pool. The school's crap, the kids are flunking out, but there is ALWAYS money for sports, especially football, drill team, cheerleaders, etc. And excuse me if I'm not moved by the cheerleaders' plight, but why should any tax money go to funding that stuff? It's not exactly education, is it?

[Dora]

34. But vending machines are ALL "hash brownies"

Soda pop is chock full of high fructose corn syrup, the "hash" in your "brownie."

The effect of High Fructose Corn Syrup on our national health is insidious and pervasive. It's present in soda, juice drinks, commercially prepared baked goods, and nearly all processed foods.

Perhaps our schools could look at reducing administrator expenses before deciding to sell poison to our kids.

I applaud this move.

[LeighAnn]

27. Kids used to drink milk at school, if I'm remembering it correctly

Wasn't it "milk money" that kids used to get beat up for? Whatever happened to that?

[donco6]

29. We put in new milk machines.

That vend flavored milk and shake drinks. The kids buy them like crazy. We haven't lost any revenue by taking out pop.

[pinniped]

30. Evidently you don't recognize it when someone is kidding.

These are elementary schools, not a security checkpoint at an airport.

Forget the costly X-ray machines, it's more cost effective to ask the kids to open their lunch boxes and inspect them visually.

[ConcernedCanuk]

10. OR - the manufacturers could make their products healthier?

.
.
.

naaaaah

that makes too much sense

(sigh)

[toopers]

11. Can you say . . .

black market sodas?

[Art_from_Ark]

12. THings have sure changed in the 30+ years I was in elementary school

Back then, no one except kids would even have suggested having junk food machines in elementary schools.

I was shocked to find that my high school had a pop machine in the band room-- but they rationalized that by saying that the profits were used to pay for band trips and uniforms. And no one was allowed to carry the drinks out of the band area.

[Roland99]

16. And just how do they plan on making up those lost sales?

Capitalists don't like losing markets.

[K-W]

17. Diet Soda, Water, Juice, Gatorade,

anything they can pass off as remotely healthy.

[2 year grad student]

20. Schools make a lot of money on vending machines

That's why vending machines in schools have proliferated so much.

When I taught in a high school of 2200 students, the school made $200,000 from the sales of pop from 7 vending machines a year. Sad, but true. It's really the schools that need to decide that they want to get rid of the machines -- and the money.

[donco6]

24. We've removed pop districtwide.

The schools asked us to do it. The teacher's lounges have pop machines (district owned). That's it.

[idlisambar]

32. Great move n/t

[Not_Giving_Up]

26. Last year, our district removed all vending machines

And all deep fryers. The kids aren't fat because of what they eat at school. It's the food the parents allow them to consume.

[donco6]

28. We took our fryers out, too.

And when I visit the kitchens, I walk through the cafeteria and watch kids pulling BIG bags of Doritos and Ruffles out of their backpacks.

They're not getting them from us.

[idlisambar]

31. That's a start

Pulling it out of all schools would be even better.

[calico1]

35. I have mixed feelings.

The vending machines could still be kept. They could have things like water, juice, water, and milk. Or is this not possible? The problem isn't just that vending machines exist. Its also that the size of a vending machine soda has increased. Its now, what? Twenty oz? What kid needs to drink 20 oz. of soda?

But I also believe that the majority of what kid eats is at home, not in school. So if they live in a household where the parents buy tons of soda, chips, fried foods, or get a lot of takeout, then what good is it really to pull the vending machines or offer healthier alternatives? I have seen some parents shop in the supermarket and can't believe the garbage some of them buy to feed their kids. And no, I don't tell them anything. I am not the food police. But I can't help but wonder about these kids.

I worry about kids today. Some experts now believe that todays generation of kids will be the first where many will be outlived by their parents. How sad is that? And what does that say about us? I don't know what all the answers are. I do know that there are an increasing number of obese kids that are developing diseases that once only were developed in adulthood.