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Senate to debate bill pushing healthier foods in schools
Author: Steve LeBlanc, Associated Press Writer February 15, 2006 - Students reaching for their favorite sugary drink or fatty snack could soon find them replaced with healthier, low-calorie treats. That's the goal of a bill set to be debated Wednesday by the state Senate. Supporters say it addresses growing concerns about childhood obesity by targeting a key source: the school vending machine. The bill requires elementary schools to sell only drinking water, 100 percent fruit juices and low- or nonfat milk during school hours. Those standards would be loosened in middle schools, which would also be allowed to sell sports drinks and low-calorie juice drinks. High schools could sell sweetened and non-sweetened carbonated drinks under the bill, as long as at least half the beverages sold are non-carbonated. The bill takes a similar, stepped-up approach with snack foods -- banning the sale of foods with more than 190 calories per portion in elementary school vending machines, and more than 250 calories in high schools. "We feel we have a compromise bill that will certainly not make the industry happy, that starts putting restrictions on caloric intake, on hours of availability and the line of product that are put into these machines," Senate President Robert Travaglini, D-Boston. State Rep. Peter Koutoujian, who has been pushing a more restrictive bill in the House for five years, said the Senate bill is a watered down version that doesn't go far enough. Koutoujian said his bill, currently before the House Ways and Means Committee, would ban the sale of soft drinks in all grades and would also put limitations of portion sizes for snacks. "It's an industry bill. That's what it looks like to me," Koutoujian, D-Newton, said of the Senate bill. Sen. Richard Moore, D-Uxbridge, chairman of the Senate's Health Care Committee, said the Senate version strikes a balance with bills like Koutoujian's. He said those more restrictive bans could backfire because they focus on barring sugary drinks and high calorie snacks that students could still purchase at neighborhood stores, rather than focusing on educating students about making healthier decisions. "The vending machines will still be there, we want to make sure some of the products going into them are healthier," Moore said. "We think we need to move in a phased approach and not come down with a hammer right away." The restrictions would only apply during school hours and not to after-school or sporting events. Past bills have come under fire from some school districts that rely in part on the revenues from vending machines. In a city the size of Brockton, for example, vending machines can bring in up to $60,000 a year. Concerns about childhood obesity have grown in recent years. Obesity rates have tripled over the past 40 years for kids and adolescents ages 6 through 19, raising their risk of risks of type 2 diabetes and a range of other diseases. Glenn Koocher, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, said a too-restrictive ban sends the wrong message. He said the focus should be on education about healthy eating, not mandates. "This is about health," said Koocher, who said schools shouldn't be placed in the situation of "denying to high school kids ... what they can legally buy across the street." Stephanie Childs, spokeswoman for Grocery Manufacturers Association, which represents the name brand food and beverage industry, said food restrictions aren't enough. "We are still concerned about ensuring that schools have adequate nutrition programs and physical activity for students," she said. |