By SORA SONG

In a deal brokered by former president Bill Clinton and the American Heart Association, the nation's three largest soft-drink companies - Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Cadbury Schweppes - have voluntarily agreed to stop selling high-calorie sodas and sugary drinks, like iced tea and lemonade, to American schools. Instead, the beverage manufacturers, which stock about 90% of all school cafeterias and vending machines, will supply younger students with only bottled water, low-fat and nonfat milk and 100% fruit juice. High schools will still get low-calorie drinks, sports drinks and diet sodas. The new plan, which is expected to be in place in three years, will affect an estimated 35 million public school children.

Nutritionists and public-health advocates applauded the deal as a major step toward battling childhood obesity. According to government statistics, more than a third of U.S. children and adolescents are overweight, and 17% are obese. What does soda have to do with it? Consider this: per capita, Americans drink more than 50 gallons of soda a year. Sugary drinks, including carbonated sodas and fruit drinks, comprise the biggest source of calories in the American diet, according to a report from the Center for Science in the Public Interest. And teenagers get a full 13% of their daily calories from sweetened drinks. The average American teenager, the CSPI report concludes, gets as much sugar a day from sweetened drinks as he or she ought to get from all foods.

So, now that soda is out of the schools, what's next? Is there another unhealthy culprit that needs to be banned from the school yard?

Tell us what you think

I am a freshman in high school and I am fairly new to having pop available to me during the school year. However, I feel that things should stay the way they are. It is not fair to punish everyone else in the school if some of the children are obese. That is the parents concern.
Anna - Leslie, Michigan

"FDA re-opens probe into benzene contamination of soft drinks" by Chris Mercer 15/02/2006 - "US food safety authorities have re-opened an investigation closed 15 years ago into soft drinks contaminated with cancer-causing chemical benzene, following evidence the industry has failed to sort out the problem"

Ergo soda is known carcinogen. We're relatively intelligent people. We've finally acknowledged that cigarettes are lethal. One of these days a similar age of enlightenment may spread across this land and it'll be a no brainer--cancer producing, out of my school. Or has something already addled our brains that precludes our connecting cause with effect and acting in our own species best interests?
JTS - Orlando, Florida

The School's Out for Soda article should be a Cover Article! Thank you, Bill Clinton for pushing our country to reduce the size of our growing children. Soda is just the start, but I believe it will make a HUGE difference. Over the span of a lifetime, healthcare costs of the obese far exceed those for people who maintain a healthy weight. The health problems include diabetes, foot, ankle, knee problems, heart disease and many more. Let's keep the momentum going to have happier, thinner children and adults.
Amy Merrick - Elm Grove, Wisconsin

I'm a sophomore in high school and my school district has already done a lot concerning healthier foods and beverages at school. I hear the argument that people need to take care of their own health and wellness, and that is true. This isn't stopping people from bringing their own sodas to school. It's just a nice way of saying that schools aren't going to enable childhood obesity any longer, and I think this initiative is one that America has long been in need of.
TJ Thompson - Las Vegas, NV

Soda isn't the problem. School clubs sell pizza everyday and different groups sell high-calorie fried foods. While I applaud the effort made by former president Bill Clinton, we must recognized soda is only a small part of the things kids drink/eat. What kids need is a lack of fried foods, not a lack of soda.
Jake Kim - Wichita, KS

When I attended (public) school, the teachers would actively police what kids ate and drank, and seized "unhealthy" items. It made me angry then, as a thin person with naturally high metabolism who can eat pretty much anything and get away with it. I'm also hypoglycemic, and I often avail myself of such products as sodas and candy because they quickly elevate sugar levels. Although removing the machines is not on the same level as what occurred in my old school (because, presumably, most schools won't play "health police" with the food that kids bring from home), attempts to control people's weight and dietary habits by force frustrate me. Everyone has different metabolic needs and it's wrong to subject people to a health regime that is not suitable for them. In these "enlightened" times, no school-aged kid is going to be in the dark about the common culprits for obesity. It is an individual's responsibility to not exceed their metabolic limit if they don't want to gain weight.
Amanda - Tennessee

This is just a reminder of the type of government we would get if another Clinton administration were to be elected, "big brother" at it's best. Diet is a personal choice, and cannot be dictated by government. Childern must learn to choose healthy eating habits on their own, for the right reasons, not by some mandate on high.
Willi Ross - Philadelphia, PA

I'm fifteen, and, well, soda is good tasting. Yeah, it's horrible for you, and has over 30 grams of sugar (not to mention over 300 calories, or pretty close to it, which is a full meal's worth of calories). But just because more teens are obese doesn't mean the soda companies are going to stop the obesity by taking out vending machines. Just because they made drugs like pot illegal doesn't mean people don't take them. They do. The verdict? Kids will drink healthy at school, but at home they'll still drink sodas and eat lard and sit on the couch watching too much TV. So, if anyone really thinks that taking soda away from public schools is going to cure the nation of obeseity, think again. To really help, push school sports and active activites, along with regular excercise and healthy eating. Most kids know what right and wrong is, and if they choose to drink soda even though they know it's bad for them, it's their choice. At least let them have the choice. And drinking soda is not bad. Yes, it's bad in excess. But really, anything is bad in excess. So, what does this prove? Who knows. I'll just miss actually waking up after lunch because no Mountain Dew.
Isabelle Rivera - Rochester, NY

I believe that a student should have a choice to drink a drink or not to, but I also believe that obese students should not drink sugar filled drinks. It is harmful to them and could lead to diabetese. I think that if a student works out, it is okay to have a coke every once in a while. But if a student that just sits around all day drinks one or even two a day it is very unhealthy. I would have to say that I do not support the descision to take sugary drinks out of the schools!
A.P. - Brownwood, TX

That's great!. I am a teacher in a middle school in Texas and everyday I see my kids, many of them overweight if not just plainly obese at the young age of only 11/12. I often find myself saying: "certainly these kids' parents must be some what responsible for how fat their children are." But then I look around and see that schools must share the blame as well. How is it possible that IN A SCHOOL soft drinks and any kind of junk food are sold everywhere, even in the cafeteria (cheetos, chips, chocolate bars just to mention a few)? Are we, as educational institutions, supposed to set the example?
Massimo Licandro - San Antonio, TX

I'm 14. I'm skinny too. Personally I think unless it's a disorder it's people's own fault for being fat. I like soda too. Only the difference is most people don't work out. They just eat. Which is very sad. I'm ashamed that our country is so fat! But I can't make up my mind as to whether the school should take out soda machines. On one hand I like it because then possibly kids will have lees soda and sugar. On the other hand I believe that why should you take the soda away from the kids that can have it , or possibly, need it - if you have diabetes. Also kids should have disipline and if they want to lose weight they should get into activities and eat healthie foods!
Katie Rome - New York

Way back when in the seventies on Long Island, where I went to school and participated in sports year-round, there were only water fountains and I survived as well as every other classmate I knew. When it spilt, no sticky mess, no over-indulging, no unsightly bottles and cans lying all over the place after human consumption. Simplicity at its best. Water.
Marci Scileppi - San Francisco, CA

I think that is a good deal for the companies. A bottle of water or juice is more expensive than a can of soda. Kids will have to drink something and companies are going to be richer.
John Ladino Scotch - Plains, NJ

Diet beverages should be removed as well. Artificial sweeteners are at least as bad as sugar is, if not worse. We just don't know what they're doing to us.
Claire Durham - New Hampshire

I think that this is a great idea. With the growing rate of obesity, and unhealthy kids, the idea is great. I'm glad that someone could come out of the wood works and do something good for the kids. I think that they will be happier in the future, with more awake scores.
Aaron Sammons - Council Bluffs, IA

I mean it's good but it's not just the pop machines it's also the teachers who encourage it. In our school on Friday, one class reades all period (or 40 minutes) and we are allowed (when in social studies) to drink pop. So it's not just the pop machines.
Bre Sipples - Vincennes, IN

I believe...considering its a free country and all, that anyone may drink whatever they prefer at there own risk. Mind you, the risk in this situation is high amounts of sugar in a soda...whats next? No power-aid because it has a colored pigment to it?
Vinny Westerly - Rhode Island

Thank you, you wonderful hard-working people who have only my best intrests at mind. I'll drink to you as I pull out the six pack of Barq's that I obviously need to keep in my locker from now on. Drinks are cheaper at the grocery store anyway. That means I can drink even MORE pop. I guess what I'm trying to say is that this won't solve anything. Kids want pop, and they will bring it from home if they have to. All you managed to do was cut into school district profits. Congrats.
Nathan Searcy - Lehi, UT

I think this is a step in the right direction but what's stopping students from buying sodas before school and drinking them during class time? What is needed to combat obesity is life-style and dietary changes.
Fel Laie - Hawaii

I am a high school student and I do not feel that this will have much of an impact on high school student's health. I feel that the only outcome from this will be an inconvenience to find a regular soda. While I do agree that it is a good idea to pull soda from elementary and middle schools, I feel that High school age'd students have to make many more health decisions than not drinking a regular soda. They are about to go off to collage and need to consider much more drastic health related decisions such as a workout & nutritional plan, etc... Greater health related education would have such a greater impact than cutting drink choice. There would actually be nutritional EDUCATION going on then. This is what President Clinton and the AHA should have focused on.
Taylor - St.louis, MO

If schools are really serious about wanting to help their students then they need to to add things not take away. What needs to be added is exercise. Students are allowed to take 22 days of class in the summer and never have to take a physical education course again. The class will have to change some. Not all students are coordinated for sports, but they can walk, run, do obstical courses,aerobics, basketball, baseball,volleyball, etc. Anything to get them moving. 30 miniutes a day of exercise. We would see weight, depression, hyperactivity, anger, and behavioral problems drop.
Chloe Wood - O Fallon, MO

Schools need to banish processed fatty and/or sugar filled foods from their menus. Why get rid of the soda when schools are serving white refined waffle sticks that come frozen with syrup, high fructose corn syrup... just like in soda?
Morgan Janes - Lexington, KY

Meat! Get rid of meat and dairy. Those two are linked to virtually all heart disease and cancers which kill 75% of Americans. Feed school kids raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, sprouted seeds and leafy greens.Their immune systems will blossom. They get everything they need for strong, healthy bodies and minds and obesity and myrid chronic diseases fall away. Read the scientific literature. If you are Christian you can read Gensis 1:29. Hindus, Buddists and others should already know. Of course, drink plenty of clean water and get exercise and sunshine. It is very simple, no mystery; and the kids will be healthy, balanced and feeling great right away. Try it in some test schools to see!
Tom Vennum - Bellingham, WA

This sounds like a feel-good solution to a deeper problem. A healthy lifestyle is not something that you can impose on people. Perhaps if our schools would promote positive choices rather than removing negative choices then I'd believe we made a step in the right direction.
Ben - Pittsburgh, PA

I think this was a step that took a long time coming, and the sad part is that it took a (ex) President to make it happen! This step should have been borne out of our necessity to drop the burger crutch. We need to educate our childern about "safe eating habits", be strict with them if necessary and the only way that can happen is if we are strict with our diet, our lifestyle and ourself. Dietary discipline will have to be inculcated in each of us who is bordering on obesity. What the country needs now is to get real and face the crisis at home rather than fight wars abroad.
Michelle Ford - Warwick, RI

While I applaude the decision to remove soda from the hands of young children, it's disgusting to me that they're going to permit diet sodas instead. Aspartame is known to be toxic and children are exceptionally damaged by it's effects. Anything that kills brain cells 2 hours after consumption has no place on our shelves, let alone in the hands our children as if it were a safe or healthy option.
M. Turner - Florida

As a veteran dental hygienist, I applaud the notion that sugary drinks will be removed from schools since I experienced first-hand for years the dangers sodas present to unsuspecting students teeth; one student contracted 16 new cavities within one years' time. After lengthy conversations, the culprit was determined to be the consumption of 1-liter of soda each school day by this student! And what a frightful experience for both student & parent who footed the bill! You can't convince me otherwise that sodas provide any healthy benefits!
Beth Clifford - Melbourne, FL

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