Schwarzenegger signs ban on sodas in high schools

GREAT NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Soda is disgusting and terrible for people, kids epsecially. They don't sell coffee to these kids so why would they sell them this addicting drug???

Get over it, you can fill your kids with caffiene, sugar, carbon dioxide, sodium when they get home.

I would think this would be accepted by anyone with a little common sense. It must be rants from high school students who are scared they will loose there fix at school.

Its a good law and I totally support it.

Its merits are on a couple of fronts,

1. It stops kids from eating / drinking junk food during their time in school. Who knows they might actually start to like something healthy. There is nothing nutricious in a coke. Also all that sugar is immediatly turned to fat because the kids can't work it off in play.

Arn't there enough fat assed people out there without breeding an entire new generation of them? Do you want more of your tax dollars to fix people with diseases caused by their unhealthy lifestyles? As it is with smoking, so it will be with unhealthy food.

2. Teachers have trouble controlling kids who are hyped up on coke and similar after lunch, all that sugar makes them hyperactive and reduces their concentration span.

Good on Arnie for having the courage to stand up and put the boot into the soft drink industry, its a long overdue step.

Why is Schwarzenegger's approval ratings going down? He is taking on some major health issues like pollution (Global Warming) and soft drinks.
While other governments are protecting these big industries for personal profits, the governator is taking on the 'ethically challenged' soft drink industry.

Originally posted by Netchicken
Arn't there enough fat assed people out there without breeding an entire new generation of them? Do you want more of your tax dollars to fix people with diseases caused by their unhealthy lifestyles? As it is with smoking, so it will be with unhealthy food.

While I agree with this in theory, why stop there? Why not have the government eliminate all unhealthy products and activities from the public? No more smoking, alcohol, fast food, automobiles, typing, athletics, television and reading which can strain the eyes, cancer-causing microwaves and high-voltage utility lines, household/industrial chemicals, firearms, plastic bags, medical equipment such as X-Rays and MRIs, medicines which have side effects, and anything else that may injure a person's body in some form or other.

As far as the worries of tax dollars, if I'm going to spend it on someone who got injured in a car accident because they or someone else was too ignorant to pay attention to what they were doing, why not spend it on someone who was too ignorant to learn that certain foods and drinks aren't good for them?

2. Teachers have trouble controlling kids who are hyped up on coke and similar after lunch, all that sugar makes them hyperactive and reduces their concentration span.
emphasis mine

Man, are the schools getting that bad? When I was in school most everyone waited until after class for that... j/k I understand that concern, but that still isn't something the government should be busying itself with. Are hyperactive students more important than trying to find jobs for the unemployed, or housing for the homeless? One could argue that the unemployed and homeless have made their own choices and should take responsibility for them. While that's true, I think the same burden could just as easily be placed on the shoulders of the kids or, more appropriately, their parents'. Not the government's.

I'm all for this in elementary and middle schools, but in high schools, no...

by that time they've already firmly established such habits, and they are budding adults, needing to learn to make choices for themselves.

And just how does Ahnuld plan on supplementing the income that such products provide to the schools?

It's nice to see the governator focusing on the serious issues facing California, isn't it?

Not to mention, what about diet sodas? Many fruit drinks can be worse for you than diet sodas, and more fattening!

[edit on 30-9-2005 by Gazrok]

Even the soft drink companies themselves are acting to ban drinks...

www.beveragedaily.com...

Consumer health trends and political pressure have pushed America’s soft drinks industry to ban fizzy sodas from elementary schools, and radically reduce their presence in others, in favour of juice, water and energy products.

PepsiCo quickly announced its support for the policy, which has been developed and adopted by the American Beverage Association (ABA).

The voluntary regulation means producers will only sell water and 100 per cent juice in elementary schools.

There will be no full-calorie soft drinks in middle schools until after school, including juices with five per cent or less juice, and bottled water, juice and sports drinks will make up half of the offering in high schools.

ABA said it was encouraging all firms involved in beverage sales to sign up to its new code.

Association president Susan Neely said the policy was a “common-sense” solution to child obesity worries in the US, and showed that the soft drinks industry was listening to the concerns of parents.

In the light of this any objections just seem silly. The soft drink manufacturers can see the writing on the wall.

[edit on 30-9-2005 by Netchicken]

Well, it looks like the soft drink industry is getting smart and getting out of schools on their own. They have to do this before the government really cracks down on them. This is a PR strategy before anything else.
The industry wont lose much profit from pulling out of schools. School sales account for a small percentage of their total profit.
They are in schools mainly as a means of advertising.

Originally posted by Netchicken

Consumer health trends and political pressure have pushed America’s soft drinks industry to ban fizzy sodas from elementary schools, and radically reduce their presence in others, in favour of juice, water and energy products.
...

In the light of this any objections just seem silly. The soft drink manufacturers can see the writing on the wall.
(emphasis mine)

This article is talking about banning it from elementary schools, not high schools. I'm fine with elementary schools, and I wouldn't gripe much about middle schools. High school kids though? They're probably out having a cigarette during their lunch break anyways--I would think that'd be a little more pressing than a soda.

What I don't get is the seemingly double-standard here. We can trust high schoolers to barrel down the freeway in 2 tons of steel, but not to know when they should cut back on the Pepsis? These are kids who are at an age where we trust them to make political decisions and go out and legally kill or be killed in the name of their country, but we can't trust them to watch their weight? I don't know; if this is such a pressing issue, and these kids can't be trusted to decide if they want apple juice or Dr. Pepper, why trust them with an M-16, a Chevy, or a ballot?

Originally posted by NephraTari
It is a violation of civil right plain and simple regardless of the intent.
NO one has the right to tell anyone what they can and can't choose to eat or drink.. its absurd!

But they are not restricting your ability to purchase or drink a soda if you so chose. What they are saying is that the school itself will no longer sell the stuff from the vending machine it makes profits from. The soda companies could care less Id wager. The all have made investments from power drinks to juice (IE Minute maid is owned by the Coke people)

[edit on 10/1/05 by FredT]

There are moves to have this, and more, happen over here in the UK and I've got to say I'm shocked at people who are so disgusted and outraged by it. It's nothing to do with the calories in drinks, it's to do with the nature of the drinks themselves and the crap they pump them full of. You can go find any number of scientific arguements against the consumption half the chemicals in any soda, especially diet ones.

Here in the UK we are going to see a banning of junk foods from schools, including what kids bring in themselves. Headmasters will have authority to search lunch boxes and take away chocolates, crisps and the like. It's nothing at all to do with civil liberties, it's a step in the right direction because parents are so careless and so ignorant when it comes to nutrition that they don't know how to look after themselves, let alone their children.