10.05.05

Junk Food in School

Posted in Uncategorized at 11:29 am by trueepicure

The Arizona State Legislature is taking a stand on the health of school children. If House Bill 2544, introduced by Rep. Mark Anderson, R-Mesa, gets passed, starting next year, Arizona’s elementary and middle school students may be eating healthier.

HB 2544 would ban the sales of soft drinks, candy and gum during the school day beginning in July 2006. High schools would be exempt. On Thursday, the Senate voted 19-11 in favor of the bill. It is amazing to me that anyone would vote against such a bill, but there is apparently a contingent that believes the government should be worrying more about standardized testing than health.

While I can understand that the Legislature has a limited amount of time to work (180 days in their year, I think), I would imagine that they could fit in some discussion (and action!) regarding the health of our next generation of Arizonans! It seems that some schools are receiving quite a lot of revenue from vending machines. Several articles I have read, suggest that some schools are receiving $50,000+ a year from vending machines!

California has already banned junk food in public schools. Several other states are involved in the junk food revolution (Maryland, Washington, etc.) . The United Kingdom has banned junk food in public schools. Hello!? The entire United Kingdom?? Wake up America! The Brits are WAAAAYYYY ahead of us. Even Fijians are considering a ban on junk food.

With the help of celebrities like Jami Oliver and Alice Waters, I think that we could actually make this happen. I am not saying that banning junk food from schools is going to solve all of the problems of obesity and weight-related health issues, but at least we can work to help kids learn how to make better choices about food, and help them to find out that broccoli is actually really tasty when it isn’t cooked to death.

Permalink