Councillor Tobin will be proposing a City Council resolution tomorrow in session to express the Council's support for State House Bill H.4452 (formerly H.1457), an Act to Promote Proper School Nutrition. This bill supports the ban of junk food and soda beverages from public schools in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Sponsored by State Representative Peter Koutoujian, H.4452 follows the model set by Councillor Tobin's successful efforts (see Page 30) to ban junk food and soft drink sales in the Boston Public Schools.

The timing of this resolution coincides with the American Beverage Association's recent claims that soft drink sales in schools have dropped almost a quarter since 2000. On another related note, the non-profit Institute of Medicine today released a report finding a strong correlation between the advertising of junk food to young children and their level of consumption of those products.

The full text of Councillor Tobin's resolution reads as follows:

WHEREAS: An estimated sixteen percent of adolescents in the United States between the ages of 6 and 19 are overweight according to the National Center for Health Statistics; and

WHEREAS: That is almost triple the number of adolescents considered overweight in 1980 by the federal government; and

WHEREAS: In Massachusetts, almost a quarter of all teens are overweight or considered at risk to become overweight according to the 2003 Massachusetts Youth Risk Behavior Survey; and

WHEREAS: A study of Massachusetts children ages 2-5 participating in the MA WIC program identified approximately 33% of those children to be overweight or at risk of becoming overweight; and

WHEREAS: In 2003, The City of Boston banned the sale of junk food and sodas in Boston Public Schools in order to promote healthy eating habits among schoolchildren and battle childhood obesity as well as the many health risks associated with it; Therefore be it

RESOLVED: That the City of Boston strongly urges the passage of State House Bill H. 4452, an Act to Promote Proper School Nutrition, which would ban the sale of junk food and sodas in public schools throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Filed in City Council: Wednesday, December 7, 2005