I rarely agree with Tennessee State Senator Tim “Roadkill” Burchett, but I give him props for attempting to combat junk food being sold in public schools. I don’t necessarily agree with his proposal to ban the sale of food at school vending machines, but something must be done to curb the growing trend of youth obesity. If you think health care costs are high now, just wait until we add another generation of obese, diabetes-plagued kids.
The Tennessee Dietetic Association is offering an alternative solution which is probaly more practical than banning vending machines:
[The TDA] backs a similar measure that would generally limit food items sold to kindergarten through eighth-grade students to ones that meet certain nutritional standards.
The items don’t include soft drinks, candy or chips.
School districts, which receive an average of $250,000 in vending machine income, are opposed to anything which might impact their cash cows.
If money is the issue, we we should simply make up the difference with increased funding. That’s a small price to pay if we can improve our children’s long-term health.
Why not?
As the article pointed out, schools could get around the ban by simply delivering junk food in a different manner. A less restrictive alternative would be for the schools to sell more nutritional snacks in the machines.