The National Education Policy Center (NEPC) has published a March 2014 report titled Schoolhouse Commercialism Leaves Policymakers Behind, which claims that the education system and its policymakers continue “to grant corporate marketers ‘widespread access to students’… through mechanisms that range from delivering marketing messages through appropriated school space and property to a variety of other strategies.” Authored by University of Colorado researchers, the 16th annual report seeks to map “the legislative landscape relative to school commercialism,” relying on legislative and non-legislative databases, interviews, media reports, and other sources to gather information on new forms of school marketing, the reactions of policymakers to school marketing arrangements, and the position of education policy organizations toward these arrangements. In particular, the report finds that little state or federal legislation related to school marketing was passed in 2012 or 2013. In previous years, notes the report, legislators have responded to school marketing by passing bills…
Tag Archives children
Maryland lawmakers have proposed legislation (H.B. 1273) that would prohibit the sale of energy drinks to youth younger than age 18. Defining energy drink as a “beverage, an energy shot, or a powdered drink mix that contains 71 milligrams or more of caffeine per 12-ounce serving and the ingredients taurine, guarana, panax ginseng, inositol, or L-Carnitine in any amount,” the bill would also prohibit minors from possessing such drinks and prohibit their sale in vending machines. In a related development, Maryland lawmakers have also proposed legislation (H.B. 1255) that would prohibit the inclusion of “any beverage other than bottled water or low-fat milk in a fixed-priced children’s menu or meal.” See BaltimoreCBSLocal.com, March 7, 2014. Issue 517
Following an application to claim that vitamin D is important to normal bone and teeth development in infants and children, the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA’s) Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies has issued an opinion affirming that vitamin D contributes to normal development of bones and teeth. The panel noted previous favorable assessments of vitamin D and the maintenance of normal bones and teeth in the general population, concluding that “the role of vitamin D in bone and tooth mineralisation and homeostasis applies to all ages, including infants and young children (from birth to three years).” Issue 515
The World Health Organization’s Regional Office for Europe (WHO/EU) reportedly warned attendees of a February 25-26, 2014, health conference held by the European Commission and the Greek Presidency of the Council of the European Union that “being overweight is so common that it risks becoming a new norm.” According to a February 25, 2014, press release, WHO/ EU reported that 27 percent of 13-year-olds and 33 percent of 11-year-olds are now overweight, while 30 percent of boys and girls ages 15 and older “are not getting enough physical activity” in 23 of the 36 countries profiled by the organization. Although it noted the role of physical inactivity in rising obesity rates, WHO/ EU ultimately urged national governments to consider implementing stricter labeling and food product regulations that would require “the food industry to take responsibility.” “We must not let another generation grow up with obesity as the new norm,” said…
A recent study has reported that although “mean caffeine intake has not increased among children and adolescents in recent years,” “coffee and energy drinks represent a greater proportion of caffeine intake as soda intake has declined.” Amy Branum, et al., “Trends in Caffeine Intake Among U.S. Children and Adolescents,” Pediatrics, February 2014. Using 24-hour dietary recall data obtained from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999- 2010, researchers with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 73 percent of children consumed caffeine on a given day, with soda accounting for the majority of caffeine intake throughout the study period. “However, the proportion of intake attributable to soda declined from 62% in 1999-2000 to 38% in 2009-2010,” said the study’s authors. “Coffee accounted for only 10% of caffeine intake in 1999-2000, but increased significantly to nearly 24% of caffeine intake in 2009-2010… Energy drinks did not exist as…
In a Food and Drug Law Institute (FDLI) Update article titled “State Law Approaches to Curtail Digital Food Marketing Tactics Targeting Young Children,” Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI) staff attorney Cara Wilking describes the types of digital marketing to children younger than age 8 that should be proscribed because they are unable to identify it as marketing. These include “advergames” and “digital sweepstakes,” which Wilking contends constitute deceptive trade practices and illegal lotteries. She calls for food and beverage companies to cease using “harmful digital marketing tactics” and for state attorneys general to take action against this marketing under consumer-protection statutes. Among other matters, Wilking argues that a number of state consumer-protection laws “explicitly address indirect advertising akin to pester power marketing in order to cover unfair and deceptive marketing that is designed to influence others” as she explains how the parental responsibility concept should not preclude legal interventions to…
California EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) will conduct a symposium on children’s health February 25-26, 2014, in Sacramento. According to OEHHA, the agency will conduct the symposium “to hear some of the latest science regarding impacts of chemical exposures during development. This is a broad topic and thus we are focusing in three areas: 1) epigenetic changes from environmental exposures; 2) impacts of toxicants on the developing lung and brain: 3) new in vitro methods for assessing potential for developmental toxicity.” OEHHA hopes that regulatory scientists in the state will begin thinking about (i) “How to incorporate complex interactions into risk assessment, particularly for early life exposures”; (ii) “How to incorporate information from new toxicity testing paradigms into risk assessments now; and” (iii) “How to incorporate impacts of non-chemical stressors that increase vulnerability, and whether current methods of risk assessment adequately account for at least some of…
A recent study examining national trends in school nutrition environments has reportedly concluded that “most U.S. elementary, middle and high school students attend schools where they are exposed to commercial efforts aimed at obtaining food or beverage sales or developing brand recognition and loyalty for future sales.” Yvonne Terry-McElrath, et al., “Commercialism in US Elementary and Secondary School Nutrition Environments: Trends from 2007 to 2012,” JAMA Pediatrics, January 2014. Relying on data from two parallel surveys of school administrators—the Food and Fitness study for elementary schools and the Youth, Education and Society study for middle and high schools—that were conducted by the Bridging the Gap program between 2007 and 2012, University of Michigan researchers measured student exposure to (i) “exclusive beverage contracts and associated incentives, profits and advertising”; (ii) “corporate food vending and associated incentives and profits”; (iii) “posters/advertisements for soft drinks, fast food, or candy”; (iv) “use of food…
Food activist and blogger Nancy Huehnergarth has reportedly filed a complaint with the New York attorney general (AG) over a purportedly deceptive “viral advertising campaign” from 2013 featuring a mobile game that promoted Gatorade® as a performance enhancer while denigrating water as “the enemy of performance.” According to a news source, gamers using the app navigated an avatar through an obstacle course and picked up bottles of Gatorade® to increase his speed while avoiding drops of water that slowed him down. Huehnergarth, who co-founded the New York State Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Alliance and was instrumental in getting “junk” food removed from school vending machines in her community, apparently filed the complaint because she believed the campaign provided an inaccurate message to children. “It’s preying on youth while slipping past parents who don’t necessarily police a mobile device quite as carefully as they do a computer. I think it’s…
According to news sources, San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman have entered an agreement to share documents and otherwise coordinate efforts in their ongoing investigations of Monster Beverage Corp., which, they allege, illegally markets highly caffeinated beverages to children. Herrera reportedly said, “Up until now, we have been working in parallel fashion, but now you will see greater cooperation. I have enormous respect for Attorney General Schneiderman and am glad to be working with his office in this major consumer protection issue.” Herrera further claimed that the company continues “to market its potentially dangerous products to children, despite the known risks it poses to young people. Hopefully, our efforts can lead to a reform of those practices.” The agreement was apparently struck about the same time that a court dismissed Monster Beverage’s attempt to stop Herrera’s investigation. Details about the ruling appear in…
