Font size:
A recently suggested bill may ban pop and other sugary soft drinks from being sold in Michigan elementary and middle schools.
State Rep. Virgil Bernero, D-Lansing, decided to write a bill when his 13-year-old daughter told him she occasionally skips milk at lunch in the school cafeteria in favor of soda pop. Bernero told The Detroit News he was appalled when he found that many schools in the area sell soft drinks from vending machines or in the lunchrooms.
"It's pervasive," the first-term Democrat told The News. "Kids are substituting pop for milk—and that has devastating health consequences. They're dismissed after quality health education programs to lunchrooms filled with junk."
The bill would also require high schools to refrain from selling pop until late in the school day, well after the lunch hour.
Angela Nicoll, a parent and Livonia homemaker, told The News she thinks the bill is unnecessary.
"It's a good idea in that kids really shouldn't drink that much pop," she said. "But it's a bad idea because here is government again getting involved in personal decisions. If you don't want your kids drinking pop, tell them not to."
