Ban Soft Drinks from Schools and SNAP on the 2012 Farm Bill
- al: care2
- destinatario: Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), California State Board of Education, CA Elected Officials: Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Sen. Barbara Boxer, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Hon. Tom Ammiano, Sen. Mark Leno
By now we can all agree that the consumption of sugary beverages is the main cause of obesity among children & poor. Why, then, do we allow sugary beverage companies to buy out vending machine contracts with school districts!?
First Lady Michelle Obama is improving the quality of school lunches, but the measures she has taken affect only the contracts with cafeteria food providers' meal plans and labeling disputes, whereas the vending machines contracts remain untouched.
>>Please sign if you think it is not too much to ask to prevent further contracting, and force current contracts to shelve sodas permanently.
On one hand, school district officials feel that the benefits to signing with a large soft-drink company outweigh the direct link to obesity through persistent advertising. Yet it is frightening that cola ads are now stepping onto sponsorship territory in computer labs, at football games, dances, and extracurricular meetings.
On the other hand, those who have stood in the way of contract bids eventually compromise because of political pressure. Governor Schwarzenegger and President Obama have already called this foul, yet realized the major risk of losing political support and campaign funding from lobbyists. How much of this power is empty threats and hearsay?It should encourage you to note that Pepsi-Co. has bent over backwards in several negotiations to please concerned school district members, by dedicating half of the vending space to Aquafina bottled water sales.
The bottom line of the soda debate is that it exploits the poor decision making of ad-targeted child consumers, forming unhealthy habits. This scenario is replicated in soft drink advertising to adults under the poverty line, which, again, you and I are paying for through the state taxes that fund SNAP, i.e. FOOD STAMPS. If you have ever benefitted from this program you know that you cannot purchase cigarettes and alcohol with food stamps; so why should JUNK still pass as "food"?
>>Please sign if you are sick and tired of seeing your tax dollars abused and want Congress to confirm that JUNK does not equal FOOD by taking action in two ways:
1) Ban on soft drink vending machine contracts with schools. 2) Disable SNAP redemption on soft drink purchases.
Thank You for Signing!
Dear Elected Official,
We the undersigned are your constituents and we urge you to take action on two major health abuses affecting school-aged children and SNAP beneficiaries.
President Obama and Governor Schwarzenegger are two trailblazers who have already raised eyebrows at public schools' greatest failure in meeting Nutrition Act guidelines and cleaning up the cafeteria lunch.
While the shame of the perpetuation of childhood obesity rests largely on the individual school district and beverage corporation representatives, most proposals to end this
blasphemy are tossed due to lobbying power from major junk corporations, namely Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Co.The Sisyphean struggle to close off corporate preying on the most vulnerable sector of consumers does not end after graduation, and regardless of whether or not you are a parent of a school-aged child, we all pay a share on the SNAP / Food Stamp bill on state junk food sales, which falls in the hundreds of millions dollars each year.
As school boards and federal nutrition assistance program heads meet to discuss next year's Farm Bill issues to be presented to Congress, it is up to citizens to petition our state legislators to take action and NOT back down. Starting with our Senators and Representatives, we pledge to ban access to soft drinks in schools and purchase of nutritionally empty beverages with federal and state tax money, because both scenarios are an abuse of government provisions.
Do not gamble away our taxes on lobbyist bullying. Take a stand against the abundance of junk, precisely because of what it is NOT-- food.
