Non-diet sodas will be yanked from United States schools, and other drinks will be downsized under a deal announced by former president Bill Clinton and the nation’s largest beverage distributors.
”This is a truly bold step forward in the struggle to help 35-million young people lead healthier lives,” said Clinton, whose foundation has targeted obesity in children for the past year.
”This one policy can add years and years and years to the lives of a very large number of young people.”
Most elementary schools are already soda-free. But under the new deal, beverage companies agreed to sell only water, unsweetened juice and low-fat and non-fat milk to elementary and middle schools, where children are usually under age 15. Diet sodas and sports drinks will remain in high schools.
The agreement, to be phased in over the next three years, was brokered by the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a collaboration between the William J Clinton Presidential Foundation and the American Heart Association. It was announced on Wednesday.
It involves industry leaders Cadbury Schweppes, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo as well as the American Beverage Association, which together control 87% of the public and private school drink market. Officials said they hoped the other 13% would follow suit.
”I don’t think anyone should underestimate the influence this agreement will have,” Susan Neely, president and CEO of the American Beverage Association. ”I think other people are going to want to follow this agreement because it just makes sense.”
Soda critics applauded the move but said it doesn’t go far enough because of allowances for sugary sports drinks and flavoured milk.
Ann Cooper, an advocate for healthy school lunches who directs the food programme for public schools in Berkeley, California, called the deal a good first step.
”Any agreement that limits high-fructose corn syrup and sugar and non-nutrient foods that are served in schools is good, but I don’t think it goes far enough,” she said, citing the calories in sports drinks and some flavoured milks.
A spokesperson for The Gatorade Company, a division of PepsiCo, argued that sports drinks benefit kids taking part in of any kind of physical activity, not just high-performance athletes, and contain carbohydrate calories that kids need.
”Gatorade has less than half the calories of many other beverage options available to kids at school, such as fruit juice and regular or flavorued milk,” spokesperson Mary Doherty said in an e-mail.
Richard Daynard, a law professor at Northeastern University, said he had been negotiating a similar deal on behalf of public health and consumer groups that were preparing to sue beverage makers.
The move follows a mounting wave of regulation by school boards and legislators alarmed by the health problems that can follow childhood obesity. Soda has been a particular target because of its high kilojoules and popularity among children.
Daynard said that in recent years the 10 largest US cities had already banned soda sales in schools.
Still, the agreement imposes stricter drink rules than are currently in place for nearly 35-million public school students.
The companies will work to implement the changes at 75% of public and private schools they have contracts with before the 2008-2009 school year, and at all of the schools a year later. – Sapa-AP