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Website developed and donated by INTEGRIS Health    A small state tax on soft drinks or snack foods, with funds earmarked for nutrition, physical activity or obesity prevention.
One issue raised has been tax law that permits companies whose support for schools comes with commercial messages to benefit financially from their “gifts.”
Establish “Junk Free” zones within walking distance of schools (via zoning laws), i.e., no fast food, gas station mini marts, etc.
Maine is weighing a broad obesity bill to add physical education classes and build more walking paths and bike routes.
Six states and the District of Columbia have introduced measures to require chain restaurants to provide nutrition labeling.
 In 2003, Kentucky Lt. Gov. Steve Henry, a physician, supported House Bill 553 (cosponsored by 15 House Members, 2002) to eliminate most snack foods and sugary soft drinks from school vending machines. It didn’t pass, but he’s bringing it before the 2004 session. (Source: Cincinnati Enquirer, March 13, 2002)
Lt. Gov. Henry also visited schools to show kids the number of teaspoons of sugar in a soft drink, a pound of synthetic fat and a model of a heart with clogged arteries. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty in 2003 proposed making federal food stamps worthless for junk food. (Source: Detroit Free Press, Ellen Creager) Two of Oklahoma’s neighbors are among the nation’s leaders in responding to the child obesity epidemic with decisive action.
We urge Oklahoma parents and health advocates to look closely at what Arkansas and Texas are learning and accomplishing on behalf of student health.
Both states have tackled the task of measuring students’ BMIs. It seems to take hard, state-specific data to dispel the denial with which this disease is often met -- by state leaders, educators and parents alike. | |
