Won't somebody please think of the children
In my effort to catch up on issues I missed while life was kicking my ass, can I just say I hate the government. From Scoop:
Coca Cola Amatil (NZ) Limited (CCANZ) and Frucor Beverages Group Limited (Frucor), the New Zealand distributor of Pepsi beverages, have signed the world’s first agreement to stop directly selling all full sugar soft drinks and full sugar energy drinks to New Zealand schools.
The voluntary agreement was signed between the beverage industry and government this afternoon.
CCANZ and Frucor have agreed to stop directly selling full sugar carbonated soft drinks and full sugar energy drinks to any schools (primary, intermediate and secondary) in New Zealand. This will take affect progressively from today and will be completed by 2009.
Both companies will provide alternatives, including no or low sugar soft drinks, fruit juices and flavoured waters.
Coca-Cola Amatil (N.Z) Limited Managing Director, George Adams, says the industry was prepared to do its small part in the battle against rising obesity levels in New Zealand.
I'd be happy to see soft-drink companies kicked out of schools entirely. I think the food provided in schools should be put produced for it's taste and nutritional value, not for profit. But I think this change is worse than the status quo. Coke has some nutritional value, as energy is pretty essential to our bodies ongoing well-being. Diet Coke doesn't actually have any food in there, just a message that the person who drinks it should be smaller.
Ugh. Diet Coke is awful for you. I know normal Coke isn't exactly healthy either, but artificial sweeteners are seriously unhealthy. I can't believe anyone thinks those chemicals are suitable for children.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you about the message this sends out, by the way. When I'm the emperor, schools will be so well funded that they won't need the money they get from soft drink companies' vending machines, and Diet Coke will be used solely for unblocking toilets (seriously, it works really well, so well in fact that I wonder how on earth anyone can stand to have it in their stomach). The status quo is an all-round crappy situation right now.
funy how paying large sums of money to a foreign company to put a red label on your can of sugar and water amounts to 'funding the school'.
ReplyDeleteI'm loving the title of this post (and your post is really good too but the title just cracks me up every time I go to your site).
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