William J. Clinton Foundation announces deal to stop most non-diet soda sales to schools

From staff and wire reports

In a deal announced Wednesday by the William J. Clinton Foundation, the nation's largest beverage distributors agreed to stop selling non-diet sodas to most public schools, where childhood obesity has become an increasing concern.

"This is a bold step forward in the struggle to help 35 million young people lead healthier lives," former President Clinton said at a news conference. "This one policy can add years and years and years to the lives of a very large number of young people."

Public high schools would still be sold diet soda under the agreement, but elementary and middle schools would be sold only unsweetened juice, low-fat milk and water, said Jay Carson, a spokesman for the former president.

"I don't think anyone should underestimate the influence this agreement will have," said Susan Neely, president and CEO of the American Beverage Association. "I think other people are going to want to follow this agreement because it just makes sense."

No major local impact

But area school officials said it won't have a major impact locally.

Area school districts already don't allow soft-drink vending machines in their elementary schools.

Students at Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City high schools have access to soda machines serving regular soft drinks at lunch.

"I think it would be bad," Central High 10th-grader Kyresha Davis said of the beverage distributors' agreement to stop selling non-diet sodas. Davis drinks Pepsi at lunch.

"A lot of kids purchase sodas during lunch time," she said.

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education prohibits public schools from having soft-drink vending machines in school cafeterias. But it doesn't ban students from buying sodas from vending machines elsewhere on campus.

Losing money

"I think they will lose a lot of money if they just sell diet," said Ashley Hahn, a senior at Jackson High School.

But she said it won't affect her personally. "I drink water; she said. Hahn said she doesn't like Coke or Pepsi. "I don't think it is healthy."

Senior Cameron Keller drinks regular Pepsi. He said the agreement won't affect students at Jackson High School because of its open-campus policy.

Students can leave the high school campus for lunch. "I eat out every day," he said.

But Scott City superintendent Diann Bradshaw-Ulmer welcomed the announcement. "I think we need to do more to help our kids maintain a healthier lifestyle," she said.

Students in local districts already can buy juice and water bottles from vending machines at their high schools. But Bradshaw-Ulmer said her district plans to provide even more of those beverages in the next school year.

"We want to put more and more of the health-oriented drinks in the vending mahines," she said.

The national agreement should reach an estimated 87 percent of the school drink market, the American Beverage Association says.

Industry giants Cadbury Schweppes PLC, Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc. -- all ABA members -- agreed to the changes, she said.

The move shouldn't have much effect on the $63 billion beverage industry's bottom line, said John Sicher, editor and publisher of Beverage Digest, which compiles extensive data on the industry.

"The sale of sugar-carbonated sodas in schools is a tiny, tiny part of their overall volume," Sicher said. "The impact is more in terms of responsibility and accountability to the consumer."

The deal follows a wave of regulation by school districts and state legislatures to cut back on student consumption of soda amid reports of rising childhood obesity rates. Soda has been a particular target of those fighting obesity because of its caloric content and popularity among children.

"It's a bold and sweeping step that industry and childhood obesity advocates have decided to take together," Carson said.

Diana Garza, a spokeswoman for the Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co., said "these voluntary guidelines escalate ... the shift to lower calorie, more nutritious beverages."

A man who answered the phone at Cadbury Schweppes' London headquarters said no one was available for comment. A call seeking comment from PepsiCo Inc. was not immediately returned.

"This is really the beginning of a major effort to modify childhood obesity at the level of the school systems," said Robert H. Eckel, president of the American Heart Association, which worked on the deal with The Alliance for a Healthier Generation and Clinton's foundation.

Under the agreement, high schools will still be sold low-calorie drinks that contain less than 10 calories per serving, as well as drinks that are considered nutritious, such as juice, sports drinks and low-fat milk. Whole milk will no longer be offered to any schools because of its calorie content, Neely said.

School sales of those kinds of drinks have been on the rise in recent years, while regular soda purchases by students have been falling, according to an ABA report released in December. But regular soda, averaging 150 calories per can, is still the most popular drink among students, accounting for 45 percent of beverages sold in schools in 2005, the report said.

The deal will be most easily enforced at vending machines, where students buy most of their drinks, Neely said.

How quickly the changes take hold will depend in part on individual school districts' willingness to alter their existing contracts, the alliance said. The companies agreed to work to implement the changes at 75 percent of the nation's public schools by the 2008-2009 school year, and at all public schools a year later.

Dozens of states have been considering legislation on school nutrition, and many school districts around the country have already begun to replace soda and candy in vending machines with healthier items.

The agreement follows an August decision by the American Beverage Association to adopt a policy limiting soft drinks in high schools to no more than 50 percent of the selections in vending machines. That recommendation was not binding.

---

Southeast Missourian staff writer Mark Bliss contributed to this story.

On the Net:

Clinton Foundation: http://www.clintonfoundation.org/

Alliance for a Healthier Generation: http://www.healthiergeneration.org/