Non-diet sodas to be pulled from schools

updated 7:48 p.m. ET May 3, 2006

NEW YORK - After getting hit by a wave of regulation in recent years by school boards and legislators, soft drink makers say they get the message: School isn’t the right place for sugary sodas.

Long the target of people who blame soda’s calories and popularity among young people for contributing to rising childhood obesity, the nation’s largest beverage distributors say they will stop selling non-diet sodas to schools and start serving reduced sizes of other drinks.

“This one policy can add years and years and years to the lives of a very large number of young people,” said former President Bill Clinton, whose foundation announced the deal Wednesday and has targeted childhood obesity for the past year.

The beverage companies agreed to sell only water, unsweetened juice and low-fat and non-fat milk, flavored and unflavored, in elementary and middle schools. Diet sodas and sports drinks will be sold in high schools.

“I don’t think anyone should underestimate the influence this agreement will have,” said Susan Neely, president and CEO of the American Beverage Association. “I think other people are going to want to follow this agreement because it just makes sense.”

The deal was brokered by the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a collaboration between the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation and the American Heart Association, and involves industry leaders Cadbury Schweppes PLC, Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc. as well as the beverage association, which together control 87 percent of the public and private school drink market. Officials said they hoped the other 13 percent would follow suit.

NBC VIDEO Canned May 3: Non-diet sodas will be yanked from schools under a deal announced with the nation’s largest beverage distributors. NBC's Robert Bazell reports. Nightly News

Beverage industry officials said the agreement is not an admission that their products are unhealthy.

“This is about where we sell our products, not about the products themselves,” Dawn Hudson, CEO of Pepsico for North America, said at the news conference in Clinton’s Manhattan office. “We believe that all our products have a place in a well-balanced diet and proper, active lifestyle.”

Soft drink critics applauded the move but said it does not go far enough.

Richard Daynard, a law professor at Northeastern University, said he had been negotiating a similar deal on behalf of the Public Health Advocacy Institute, which together with the Center for Science in the Public Interest had been preparing to sue beverage makers if no deal had been reached.

“What they agreed to was very close to the final negotiation position we gave them at the end of March,” Daynard said.

Daynard said the deal should not have allowed sports drinks to be sold in high schools. He said the drinks are useful for high-performance athletes but are “simply sugar water” for students.

Ann Cooper, an advocate for healthy school lunches who directs the food program for public schools in Berkeley, Calif., called the deal a good first step.

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