Connecticut Governor Vetoes School Junk Food Bill (Big soft drink lobbied fiercely against it)

Yahoo News ^ | 6/14/05

[Libloather]

Conn. Gov. Vetoes School Junk Food Bill
2 hours, 30 minutes ago

HARTFORD, Conn. - The governor vetoed a bill Tuesday that would have banned most soft drinks and junk food from Connecticut schools.

Soft drink companies had lobbied fiercely against the bill, and schools expressed concerns about losing revenue from sales.

Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell said the effort to impose state standards on school districts for nutrition and physical education "undermines the control and responsibility of parents with school-aged children."

The bill would have banned sodas and snacks deemed unhealthy by the state Department of Education from school cafeterias, school stores and vending machines.

The legislation also would have required 20 minutes of physical activity for young students through fifth grade each day, outside of gym class.

Proponents said that taking sugary soda and junk food away would teach students about good nutrition choices.

Rell said improving the health and wellness of Connecticut's children is laudable and called on the education commissioner to develop guidelines for school nutrition and physical education policies.

[KevinDavis]

Good...

[AzaleaCity5691]

A decision that should be left up to each individual school system

[Shermy]

"undermines the control and responsibility of parents with school-aged children."

LOL! They're at school, not with their parents. Bet Coca-Cola lobbyists came up with that screwball logic.

[AzaleaCity5691]

Coca-Cola is a fine American company that has done much to make our country a better place. All this anti-Coke talk is standard liberal jargon, the claim that the "big evil corporations" are out to kill us all.

[motzman]

The bill would have banned sodas and snacks deemed unhealthy by the state Department of Education from school cafeterias, school stores and vending machines.

Anyone else notice an "unhealthy" pattern here?

[Guillermo]

Kids shouldn't be eating junk food in schools, provided by the State.

[Scarchin]

Here's something a posted on my "blog in development" regarding this issue:

http://classdismissed.blogspot.com/2005/05/crap.html

[AzaleaCity5691]

The "junk food" is not provided by the state, the "junk food" is provided by Vending Companies who (if it's anything like here) contract with the local schoolboards.

And if we start calling potato chips and coke junk food, whats next, are they going to proceed to try and ban all spicy food from the schools, all fried food from schools, and why stop there, eventually, they'll go after meat.

Chips will not kill you, not exercising and eating chips will, so the answer is simple, more exercise at school.

[Turbopilot]

deemed unhealthy by the state

I learned (not from public schools) that there once was a time when that statement would be far more frightening than any carbs ever could be. I'm sad that I'll live in a time when that statement is considered normal and acceptable by a "free people".

[Turbopilot]

Chips will not kill you, not exercising and eating chips will, so the answer is simple, more exercise at school.

Chips won't kill you. Not exercising and eating unhealthily may hurt you. Bowing to a government who wants to decide what you may and may not do to your own body will kill you. I'll take carbs over government force any day.

[AzaleaCity5691]

I don't think it is unreasonable to have exercise as part of the school cirriculum

[Alberta's Child]

A decision that should be left up to each individual school system.

Any individual school system that pays its own way, that is. If not, then it has no business complaining when the state or Federal government implements idiotic rules and regulations.

[Turbopilot]

Nope; exercise should probably be a part of a school's curriculum. But accepting that the government should decide what is acceptable nutrition and exercise as a condition of being an "acceptable" student should be a part of curriculum only in as much as it as taught as part of a fascist philosophy that the United States has lost many good men during the 20th century fighting against.

[Archon of the East]

Anyone else notice an "unhealthy" pattern here?

Yes, I did and I also noticed the word deemed which relates to fiat, which is exactly how our rules and laws are more often than not decided.

[Alberta's Child]

I don't understand what the big fuss is all about. The state was simply going to keep vending machines for soda and "junk food" out of the schools (none of which had these things when all those men were fighting fascism in the 20th century!). Anyone who wants to eat or drink that stuff can stop at the local 7-11 on the way to school in the morning -- and would probably cost less, too.

Those vending machines are often just revenue rackets, anyway -- in which the school signs some kind of agreement with a corporate supplier in which the school is paid an annual fee in exchange for exclusive rights to sell and advertise on school grounds.

[motzman]

"Deemed"

If you close your eyes, you can actually see some shriveled "minister" wave his hand, limply, saying "My Will Is Done".

[montag813]

Rell should have signed it. It doesn't spend a single penny of taxpayer money, but addresses the true explosion of obese kids in CT (and nationwide).

[montag813]

Kids shouldn't be eating junk food in schools, provided by the State.

Amen to that. Rell screwed this one up. It also made an effort to introduce lower-fat versions of common lunch foods. A good bill vetoed by a lousy governor.

[montag813]

the answer is simple, more exercise at school.

The bill tried that, but bought-and-paid-for Rell vetoed it.