[BigP0ppa3]

http://www.bergenrecord.com/page.php...VFeXk2NzA0NzU1

N.J. bans soda, candy sales during school hours

Tuesday, June 7, 2005

By KATHLEEN CARROLL
STAFF WRITER
No more candy. No more soda. And lots of attention to things like trans fats.

New Jersey became the first state to announce a ban on soda and candy sales on campus during school hours, under regulations announced by acting Governor Codey on Monday. When the rules take effect in September 2007, other no-nos will include foods loaded with sugar or margarine, and oversize containers of whole milk.

"We've always prohibited carbonated beverages until the end of the last lunch period," said Kathy Kuser, director of the Division of Food and Nutrition at the state Department of Agriculture, which wrote the regulations. "This extends it to the entire academic school day."

More than one-third of all New Jersey students are overweight or obese, according to a 2004 state study.

"Schools must be a place where we teach good nutrition and lay the foundation for good eating habits," Codey said in a statement. "We will make our schools a national leader."

As the news spread across North Jersey high schools, students wondered aloud how they would survive a long school day without buying turbocharged snacks such as chocolate and cola.

"It's going to be a culture shock," said Tim Shine, 14, of River Vale, a freshman at the Bergen County Academy for Business and Finance in Hackensack.

"It's too idealistic a plan," said his classmate Janet Kim, 16, of Demarest. "People will just bring candy from home."

Outside Wayne Valley High School, students said the ban would have little effect on their eating habits.

"Kids will start cutting school and going across the street to get it there," said sophomore Marc Ficarra.

Under the Model School Nutrition Policy regulations, elementary school students can buy water, low-fat milk or 100 percent fruit and vegetable juices. The regulations are looser at middle and high schools, where some sports drinks are allowed. In all cases, bottles must contain 12 ounces or less - except for water.

Under the rules, students may bring any food or drink to school, and teachers may still purchase soda and candy in the faculty lounge. But the ban on sales extends from the cafeteria to the school store, vending machines and on-campus fund-raising activities - so no more candy fund-raisers during school.

The American Beverage Association, a soft-drink industry group in Washington, criticized the statewide move.

"These decisions should be made at the local level, not in Trenton," the group said in a statement provided by spokeswoman Tracey Halliday. "The beverage industry already provides a wide variety of beverage choices to schools, including bottled water, juice, juice drinks, sports drinks, zero- to mid-calorie soft drinks, teas and dairy-based beverages."

Students gradually are making healthier snack choices, said Mark Vidovich, president of Pomptonian Food Services in Fairfield, which manages school cafeterias for 28 districts throughout Bergen and Passaic counties. He said the regulations had been expected; in anticipation, his company has phased out many fried items and most candy bars.

"Local Boards of Education and parents have been interested in making nutritional improvements all along," he said.

Federal regulations on school lunches impose strict nutrition requirements in meals but leave snacks sold in vending machines and the school store virtually unregulated, said Joy Johanson, a senior policy associate at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a public health advocacy group based in Washington.

"We applaud the governor of New Jersey for taking this strong step," she said. "It's important that schools support parents' efforts to feed their children well."

Boards of education have allowed vending machines in public schools over the past decade, in part to raise funds. But many parents already have demanded they swap out the sweets for healthier fare.

Jeff Fischer, who serves on the Board of Education in Haledon and at Manchester Regional High School, said the new regulations probably wouldn't hurt finances in those districts - particularly because soda vending machines at the high school already are turned off during the school day.

"I don't see this as a big deal," he said. "On the cart at the grammar school [in Haledon], we took out all of the sugary items. Now it's just mostly [energy bars] and pretzels. All of the candy is out."

Legislators in New Jersey also have been debating limits on junk food in public schools. The state Assembly has passed a bill mandating that healthful snacks be sold in vending machines during school hours, and limiting sales of foods with "minimal nutritional value" until the last half-hour before the end of classes. The Senate version was released from the health committee last month.

"Children are clearly eating too much of the wrong thing, and it is affecting them in the wrong ways," said Assemblyman Herb Conaway, a Burlington County Democrat and physician who co-sponsored the bill. "The regulations and the bill support each other."

The new regulations require that schools have weekly classes on nutrition, in line with the state's 2004 Core Curriculum Content Standards. Carol Adelson, a Woodcliff Lake nutritionist who gives presentations on healthy eating in area schools, said students are shocked when she shows them a beaker full of sugar, and explains that it matches the amount in a can of soda.

"This should have been done so long ago," she said. "Where is there a better role model than in school? Seeing [junk food] in school, then they assume it's OK to eat it at home. This is sending such a powerful message if you give only healthy foods."

Staff Writers Robert Ratish and Catherine Holahan contributed to this article. |E-mail: carroll@northjersey.com

[Pioneer]

leave it to NJ to make another restricive law, i hate this freakin state.

but yes, this law isn't that bad since i remember being in school and see all the chunky kids emptying the candy machines. though it might stop the school from selling it the kids are still going to bring in candy from home and probably stock up thier lockers with the stuff, then sell it. im thinking way to much into this thing.

[BigVrunga]

Its up the parents to educate their kids on how to eat right and exercise. Its not the government's job. Jesus Christ. Why dont they ban teenage whores too.

[ke0ki]

Kids are getting fatter and fatter these days and I think this is a step in the right direction.

[hamper19]

personally i think this is loooooong over due... c'mon now, of course the parents need to educate their kids, but these are young kids, if they had their way they would eat NOTHING but CRAP...i know when I was younger there were many days i wasted my lunch money on cookies or ice cream or soemthing. You figure most kids probably don't eat much of a breakfast, then their one meal at school is a bunch of junk food....i commend them for the decision to ban **** like that.

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[Matthew D]

the thing is guys.. is this any different that any other ban that the government has come up with? Like someone said, we need to start teaching personal responsiblity and that begins with the parents... IT IS NOT government's place to raise kids or to tell an adult how to led there personal life..

[ke0ki]

Removing sodas and candy from schools doesn't mean the govt is raising our kids. Schools should foster an environment that is conducive to learning and good health. By selling this kind of junk they are promoting its consumption. If parents want to stuff their kid with soda and candy they can pack it with the kids lunch on the way to school.

[BigP0ppa3]

Exactly, I don't look at this as the government "raising our kids".

They're not forcing you to eat or NOT eat anything specific, and even the article admits there are CLEAR flaws in the plan - such as kids bringing candy and soda from home or walking off school grounds to the local convenience store during lunch.

However, given the sad state most kids health is in these days, I believe the school have a responsibility to the public to NOT offer foods that are clearly unhealthy and have no nutritional value to these children.

Just cause you have a personal choice as to what you eat doesnt mean that the school should enable your making a bad decision.

BP

[CDB]

Originally Posted by ke0ki

Removing sodas and candy from schools doesn't mean the govt is raising our kids. Schools should foster an environment that is conducive to learning and good health. By selling this kind of junk they are promoting its consumption. If parents want to stuff their kid with soda and candy they can pack it with the kids lunch on the way to school.

The law will be ineffective. The problem is that the government is raising the kids, and unless what they're teaching them changes whether or junk food is or isn't available at school will make little difference. What you can expect to see is that when the law doesn't really effect health statistics for over weight kids, there will be a tightening of the standards, and so on and so forth until you'll start seeing kids getting suspended for possesion of a candy bar or some other ridiculous nonsense.

I don't know how many failures it will take for people in general to learn that prohibitions don't work, but I'm still waiting and enjoying the idiotic consequences. First thing I always ask anyone who is pissed off when a person released from prison robs or otherwise assaults them or someone they know is: How many nonviolent drug offenders are in that prison, how much money does it take to keep them there, and would you rather that were spent on keeping dangerous people in prison? Lest you think the two issues are different, they are not. In all cases of prohibition penalties skyrocket and rules/laws get more and more restrictive and in the end the results are negligible, and the law of unintended consequences kicks in to high gear.

And of course now that there is some law of this nature on the books somewhere that restricts people's food based on whether or not the government thinks it's healthy for them, a flat out prohibition law, you can expect a snowball effect of more laws and precedents built upon those laws that will start to affect a lot more people than just the kids in schools. It's not stretch to see OSHA adopting similar standards for food available in the workplace.

[Matthew D]

why not work with the school and the teachers that are responsible for educating the kids to make a change and explain to the kids and parents that are not involved directly with the change in vending machine policies. That would be a whole lot easier to get going in the right direction that this and as CDB said.. if they do it to the kids, who's next?

[BigP0ppa3]

Originally Posted by Matthew D

why not work with the school and the teachers that are responsible for educating the kids to make a change and explain to the kids and parents that are not involved directly with the change in vending machine policies.

Why not do both?

Of course, no one is saying that education isn't important and should always be used as a "first-line". However I also believe that you should practice what you preach. Don't tell me not to eat junk then put a machine right outside the classroom door that sells that very same junk. I think that would be hypocritical.

Also I think that comparing banning junk food sales in schools is the same thing as alcohol prohibition or a PH ban. Viewing that in the same light is an oversimplification of all three issues.

BP

[DieTrying]

Here come the political debates....

This is awesome IMO! I do understand that parents should be responsible for teaching their children right from wrong, but my main opinion is that there is no possible good that can come from a vending machine in a school.

[hamper19]

bottom line is kids will do what they want. Even if the parents are promoting healthy eating, do you really think kids will do this when they are "on their own" at school, with 2 bucks in their pocket?

I don't think this is the end all solution, to the increasing number of obese kids, and kids with diabetes, but it's definitely a step in the right direction, by at least acknowledging that all the sugar and trans fat consumption is harmful to the kids health.

ANd I know most of you probably bitched about the new food guide published this year which basically is still innacurate. We bitched that we wanted the government to lay it out more clearly and tell us what not to eat......I think taking this crap out of schools is a good sign to the kids of what NOT to eat. IF schools were to teach this type of thing in class rooms,(which they should), they would most likely go by what the FDA reccomnedations are which we all know isn't totally right on. It isn't right on because of the lobbyists who prevent the TOTAL TRUTH about their products (such as sugar manufacturers) from coming out into the public for fear of losing money. Same goes for parents, they would go by the information out there now.

I think we are looking at it differently b/c we happen to know how to REALLY eat..what to avoid, what to eat. You take the standard lay person, and they'll most likely be preaching wrong info. Coming out with something as strongly is this, sends a message....a good one i think.

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[BigVrunga]

Oh I agree completely - there definitely shouldn't be junk food vending machines in schools. But kids need to be taught from day one *why* they shouldnt be eating crap, and the importance of regular exercise.

But it has to start with the parents. Considering more than half the adults in this country are overweight, that's a pretty scary notion, because they're passing those bad habits down to their childered. Ushering the epidemic of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, etc. down to a new generation.

Taking that into consideration, maybe - by teaching kids the right way to eat at school, they can bring that home to their parents. In my first post I was just being a little silly - but in all seriousness...

It's OK that the government said 'no junk food' in schools. But that's not going to stop kids from eating it. Like someone mentioned above, if I was a kid in that school Id be comming to school with a book bag loaded with twinkies, auctioning them off to the highest bidder.

IMHO, the government should ban itself from banning stuff. It dosent do any good, if people REALLY want it, they'll find a way to get it. Education is the only key enlightenment, whether that's kids who stay off drugs or know how to eat right.

BV

[Nullifidian]

I love this law. And I consider myself to be a Libertarian. It is, in its current state, a very Libertarian oriented law. Why? They aren't restricting ANYONE's rights except vendors. You see, schools are GOVERNMENT property. Thus, they can decide what they do or do not want to sell or provide to people on that property. If they choose not to seel candy or unhealthy foods, it is their right.

If students want to eat candy, then they will have to get it themselves instead of having the friggin government provide it at a discount or in some cases free of charge. This is actually shrinking government role in that it is a service they are no longer providing.



Will this have any effect on the health of students? Who cares. If they get fat, then at least now they can't blaim it on the school. In fact, this means they will have to go out of their way to specifically eat crappy food. So if kids get fat you can actually doubly blaim it on them because it meant they took an extra effort to become obese.


What I WOULDN'T be in favor of would be an outright ban of candy at all at schools; as in disallowing students from bringing their own. The reason being that is when it really does become a limitation of personal freedoms. Another thing though I think they need to do is remove the junk vendors from the faculty lounges as well. The government shouldn't be providing junk food to teachers either. If the teachers want junk, they should bring it themselves like the kids do.

[CDB]

Originally Posted by BigP0ppa3

Also I think that comparing banning junk food sales in schools is the same thing as alcohol prohibition or a PH ban. Viewing that in the same light is an oversimplification of all three issues.

BP

How do you think those prohibitions started? The prohibition of marijuana started with a tax (fat tax anyone?) that put the cost of growing/possesing it outside the reach of most people. It's the exact same thing and will have the exact same consequences. It's what happens when you try to make a thing illegal rather than a behavior. There is no difference between prohibitions of anything, be it drugs, food, guns or whatever. The process is the same, has the same flaws and the same consequences.

One thing no one mentioned yet: what about the two thirds of healthy kids who don't have a problem moderating their intake of crappy food? If some kid in good physical shape occasionally wants a Snickers, why shouldn't he be allowed to have it? This is one consequence of prohibition. You have a substance, whatever it may be. Some people use it to a point where it causes problems, others don't. You have a problem and a nonproblem population. However, when a law gets passed that targets all of the people who use there is no legal differentiation to be made anymore between responsible and irresponsible use.

There are a few consequences to this approach. One, inefficient use of resources. For example if cops were forced to target all people who drink rather than just drunk drivers (ie, during prohibition) what you end up getting is a proportional amount of the nonproblem population arrested, fined and imprisoned with the problem population. What this means is that resources were wasted locking up someone for having a drink but causing no problems that would have better been spent going after members of the problem population, like drunk drivers. With the schools you're going to see resources wasted trying to educate already healthy kids on the evils of junk food, and resources wasted on punishing already healthy kids for occasionally indulging (Snickers offenders), when that money would be better spent on educating the kids who have weight and other health problems related to poor diet.

Second but related, you see people punished unjustly. This is what happens when you take a behavior that is not inherently harmful or criminal and make it illegal. Once more to drinking, in and of itself it's not harmful. In moderation it actually has health benefits, in excess it is harmful. The use determines the effect. During prohibition people were locked up whose only crime was they wanted a drink every now and then. To go out and have a good time with friends and loosen up a bit. The law didn't make that distinction though. You will see similar results with these new school rules in NJ. As I said the ban will eventually lead to punishment for possesion of junk food; it wouldn't make sense not to punish possesion if selling it is bad and not allowed. Some idiot will come forward and say We need to send the RIGHT MESSAGE to the children, and that will be that. Then some otherwise healthy kid who only wanted a non-nonfat cheese string, or a yoohoo or a candy bar or something not perfectly nutritious, according to the state of course, as a snack will get nailed for it and end up in detention or suspended.

And three, the spiralling effect of the rules and the inefficient use of funds on nontargeted groups will lead to higher costs, which means more in taxes, which means more out of your pockets if you live in the state. It'd be all well and good if they just decided not to sell junk food, but no government official has ever let common sense stop them from royally ****ing things up. And that's where I think your biggest mistake is: in judging the motivations of the people behind the law. These people are not just saying they don't want to contribute to the unhealthiness of kids, they actively want to fight it. That is the motivation that will lead to the expansion and acceleration of the laws when this one is shown to be ineffective, and eventually to the results described above. For kids in public schools and pretty soon, if history is anything to judge by, for everyone else too.