"Tackling the Problem of Obesity, a 2005 Priority"

international | consumer issues | opinion/analysis Sunday January 02, 2005 06:38 by Ross Getman ross_getman at hotmail dot com

with Ireland leading the way

Soda should be eliminated from public schools.

Dr Patrick Wal, Professor of Food Safety at the UCD Centre for Food Safety and medical epidemiologist at the Institute for the Study of Social Change,wrote "Tackling the Problem of Obesity, a 2005 Priority" in Irish Times.

He explained that "the [World Health Organization] strategy calls on governments to take measures to curb unhealthy eating, promote exercise and look at food labelling and advertising. But many governments which have strong sugar industries, including the US which is also the home of Coke and Pepsi, maintained that the suggestion would restrict trade."

He concluded:

"Ireland led the world with the smoking ban. Maybe we can do the same for the obesity problem. Let's make a start in 2005."

Given that Ireland has already led the world, as I recall, in having commercial signage on school vending machines replaced, perhaps it could lead the world in ridding its public schools of soda.

In the United States, individual school districts in the country have gone soda free, to include New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Boston, Seattle, Austin, Buffalo and Scranton. But there still is an inertia that might be best overcome by a trend of national soda bans abroad, starting with Ireland.

New Year's calls for bold resolutions.

In Canada, the soda companies pulled out of elementary and middle school voluntarily after concerned parents complained.