Good ol intrusive government making decisions for us once again

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sandorski

No Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
70,085
5,618
126
Originally posted by: shinerburke
"Intrusive government"? Hardly. It's more like intrusive commercialization of a harmful(learning impairment wise) product at an essential institution.
Learning impairment? Hmmmm.....I somehow managed to get through college and earn both a Bachelor's and Master's degree while I was in a chemically altered state on many occasions. A little soda isn't going to keep the kids from learning. Hell little Jenny Rottencrotch's short skirt is probably more or a learning impairment than soda will ever be.


Whether you made it or not is immaterial. Sugar is known to interfere with the learning process.
 

shiner

Lifer
Jul 18, 2000
17,116
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0
Yeah and Aspartame causes brain tumors, eggs cause heart attacks, cell phones short out your brain.....yadda.....yadda....yadda.....know what the problem is with 99.99% of the kids who can't or won't learn is? THEY ARE STUPID!!! Don't try to blame Coke for why Johnny can't read.....
 

Harvey

Administrator<br>Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
35,052
30
86
Originally posted by: shinerburke
Why am I not surprised this is taking place in California?

LA to vote on ban of soda in schools
"This is the right thing to do for children," said board member Julie Korenstein, one of three co-sponsors. "There is an obesity epidemic in the United States today nationally, and there is a tremendous rise in childhood diabetes."
Whatever happened to schools TEACHING children?
Ummm... We can start by setting better examples in our establishments of learning. For example, by NOT letting the purveyors of junk food buy their way into marketing to our nation's kids.

The Surgeon General's Call To Action To Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity
THE PROBLEM OF OVERWEIGHT IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS

* In 1999, 13% of children aged 6 to 11 years and 14% of adolescents aged 12 to 19 years in the United States were overweight. This prevalence has nearly tripled for adolescents in the past 2 decades.
* Risk factors for heart disease, such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure, occur with increased frequency in overweight children and adolescents compared to children with a healthy weight.
* Type 2 diabetes, previously considered an adult disease, has increased dramatically in children and adolescents. Overweight and obesity are closely linked to type 2 diabetes.
* Overweight adolescents have a 70% chance of becoming overweight or obese adults. This increases to 80% if one or more parent is overweight or obese. Overweight or obese adults are at risk for a number of health problems including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and some forms of cancer.
* The most immediate consequence of overweight as perceived by the children themselves is social discrimination. This is associated with poor self-esteem and depression.
USDA reports obesity-linked diabetes rising in children
The percentage of overweight children, aged 6 to 17 years, has doubled in the United States since 1968. The most recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics from 1988 to 1994 found that one in five children in the United States was overweight.

Studies show that 70 percent of overweight kids aged 10 to 13 years will be overweight and obese as adults...

Adding to the problem is the recent trend of eating food that has been prepared outside the home. National food surveys show that about 30 percent of family meals nationwide are fixed outside the home, regardless of family income. Such meals often are higher in calories and fat and contain larger portions than those prepared at home...
DO YOU WANT FRIES WITH THAT? -- Many believe the rise in consumption of fast food ? marketed mostly to children ? directly parallels the rise in childhood obesity, which has doubled over the last 20 years. Morley Safer reports. -- 60 Minutes -- CBS

Study: Sodas linked to obesity
February 15, 2001
Web posted at: 6:57 p.m. EST (2357 GMT)

From staff and wire reports

LONDON, England -- Children who drink sugary soft drinks are at higher risk of becoming obese, researchers in the United States report.

Their work, published in the British medical journal The Lancet, is the latest in a string of studies warning that American teenagers are increasingly putting their health at risk by consuming too much junk food.

"We found that for every additional serving per day of soft drink consumed, the risk of becoming obese increased by about 50 percent," researcher David Ludwig of Children's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, told Reuters.
I live in L.A., and I applaud the L.A. School Board for having the courage to give up the money paid by soft drink vendors for the sake of our kids' health.
 

sandorski

No Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
70,085
5,618
126
Originally posted by: shinerburke
Yeah and Aspartame causes brain tumors, eggs cause heart attacks, cell phones short out your brain.....yadda.....yadda....yadda.....know what the problem is with 99.99% of the kids who can't or won't learn is? THEY ARE STUPID!!! Don't try to blame Coke for why Johnny can't read.....


Head in the sand.
rolleye.gif
 

JellyBaby

Diamond Member
Apr 21, 2000
9,159
1
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So long as each school district can decide for itself, there's no problem and no direct government manipulation.

However, I suspect the feds will eventually try to make this and other health concerns a political issue very soon. If the feds try to mandate a "junk food" ban on every school in the nation, I hope enough people realize it's not their job to do so and complain to their elected officials accordingly.
 

Stark

Diamond Member
Jun 16, 2000
7,735
0
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To be honest I was kind of surprised to find out they had pop machines in schools now. We never had them when I went to school.
A few years back the soda companies (coke, pepsi) began paying school districts to let them sell their products in public schools. The schools agreed.

from the LA Times:
More than 200 middle and high schools in the Los Angeles district now have individual contracts with Coca-Cola Co. or PepsiCo Inc. for vending machines or sales in student stores. Those campuses will have until January 2004 to replace carbonated sugary beverages with water, juice, milk or sports drinks during school hours. That could cost them thousands of dollars, because many Los Angeles schools earn substantial revenue from soda sales.

For example, Jefferson High School made $88,342 last year, and Belmont High School netted $50,742, according to the district. The profits go toward student funds for school dances, sports, clubs or field trips.
LA has now decided that the evidence linking soda and rising child obesity outweighs the money the soda companies gives them, and will no longer market the product for them. I don't think they are banning soda, just no longer selling it on campus.

I say good for them.
 

Harvey

Administrator<br>Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
35,052
30
86
For those lamenting the potential financial damage to the poor, battered old softdrink companies, Coca-Cola, which is part of the same conglomerate that owns Sunkist and other beverage brands, has already stated they will gladly switch to providing those products, instead of their sugar-water junk. Can Pepsi/Frito-Lay be far behind? :)
 

Stark

Diamond Member
Jun 16, 2000
7,735
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Schools to End Soda Sales
By ERIKA HAYASAKI, TIMES STAFF WRITER

The bubbles burst Tuesday night for students who drink soda on campuses of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The Board of Education voted unanimously to ban the sale of the soft drinks at all of the district's 677 schools in an effort to improve the health of 736,000 students.

"This is absolutely the right thing to do," said Board President Caprice Young. "But I wish we could have chosen an implementation plan that would have made it less painful for the schools."

More than 200 middle and high schools in the Los Angeles district now have individual contracts with Coca-Cola Co. or PepsiCo Inc. for vending machines or sales in student stores. Those campuses will have until January 2004 to replace carbonated sugary beverages with water, juice, milk or sports drinks during school hours. That could cost them thousands of dollars, because many Los Angeles schools earn substantial revenue from soda sales.

For example, Jefferson High School made $88,342 last year, and Belmont High School netted $50,742, according to the district. The profits go toward student funds for school dances, sports, clubs or field trips.

By a 4-3 vote, board members rejected a proposal by Young and board member Mike Lansing that would have required the district to come up with a plan to replace the funds. Another proposal by Lansing that the board set aside $3 million out of next year's budget for the same purpose also lost.

Board member Marlene Canter, who spearheaded the soda ban motion, objected to tacking a financial commitment to the initiative.

"We don't yet know what the impact of this is going to be, and we're jumping the gun by assuming strife," she said.

About 50 students and teachers gathered outside the Downtown Business Magnet High School, where the board was meeting, to support the soda ban. They taped signs to the wall that read: "Loyalty to Education, Not to Coca Cola" and "Don't Brand Our Kids."

"It's wrong to assume that most teens don't care what they put into their body," said Raul Hernandez, 17, a student at Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School. "I play basketball, and we want something other than soda. It just makes you more thirsty, and it tastes nasty."

Rosemary Lee, a teacher at Logan Street Elementary School, also wanted an end to soda sales in the district.

"It's a health issue. I have kindergartners who are 90 pounds at 4 or 5 years old. I have kids who come to school with a soda for breakfast," she said.

County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky addressed the board, commending it for "taking steps today that, I think, will have ramifications all across the country."

"When you hear people say this is going to cost you some dollars out of the school uniform account, I am very sympathetic to that," he said. "However, the costs to them for the rest of their lives is much deeper."

The motion was co-sponsored by board members Canter, Genethia Hudley-Hayes and Julie Korenstein.

Lansing, who worried about the loss of school funds, suggested the action wasn't the way to address health problems among the district's children.

"I'm afraid, as too often, this is a little more about the hype than about addressing the obesity epidemic," Lansing said. "To equate the banning of sodas with ending obesity is not adequate."

Supt. Roy Romer, who during the meeting announced that he suffers from Type 2 diabetes, asked the board to continue to look at ways to address obesity and poor health.

"We ought to be very careful to look at the diet we promote, as well as the exercise," he said. "I support the effort. It ought not be the end of it."

When the motion passed, a crowd of supporters erupted in applause and cheers.

The idea to ban soda was inspired, in part, by recent reports spotlighting the obesity epidemic in Los Angeles, including a UCLA survey that found that 40% of 900 students in 14 Los Angeles Unified schools were obese.

Beginning in January 2004, schools may no longer sell soft drinks in vending machines or at student stores during school hours. Sodas may, however, be sold on campus starting 30 minutes after the school day is over, at events such as football games.

Coca-Cola Co. sells the soft drinks Fresca, Barq's Root Beer and Sprite as well as Coke. Schools may replace sodas offered by Coca-Cola with non-soda products from the company, including Minute Maid juice, Powerade and Dasani water.

PepsiCo markets such soft drinks as Mountain Dew, Mug Root Beer and Slice as well as Pepsi. Schools may choose PepsiCo's noncarbonated options, including Gatorade, Aquafina water and Tropicana or Dole juices.

L.A. Unified is the largest school district in the country to ban soft drinks. The 55,000-student Oakland Unified School District implemented a similar policy last year, banning sodas and junk food on its campuses.

Also beginning in 2004, public elementary schools in California will not be allowed to sell junk food or soda, as part of legislation signed into law last October by Gov. Gray Davis.

In May, a proposal to phase out the sale of sodas in all California schools was killed. Anti-soda legislation has also been unsuccessful in Maryland, Oklahoma and Kentucky. Texas prohibits the sale of junk food on all campuses.
LA Times story
 

Jugernot

Diamond Member
Oct 12, 1999
6,889
0
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Schools now are a joke... when I graduated in 99 we had 6 soda machines, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Seattle's Best coffee espresso, PLUS a cafeteria where you could order customs subs, pizzas, burritos, ETC.

They are feeding kids $hit nowadays! Yes, this is what they eat at home, but schools are supposed to be a place to feed kids nutrious food like week old mystery meat and dried up green beans! Dammit!

Jugs
 

ElFenix

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Mar 20, 2000
102,414
8,356
126
what my parents told me when i was whining about my rights: kids aren't citizens.

as for irradiating beef, i have no problem with it. you know what you do when you microwave something? you irradiate it. you still eat that, right?