SWEET TURN OF EVENTS

News reports that soft drink vendors had reached an agreement with the Maine Department of Education to stop selling and advertising soda in schools may have been premature. No agreement has been written, according to the Maine Soft Drink Association’s lawyer. Instead, there is an agreement to meet and work out an agreement.

The confusion and hedging over the question of soda in schools is discouraging. But, if more time and tinkering is needed to get soda distributors to accept what amounts to a prohibition on selling soft drinks to kids while they are at school, their approval of the resulting deal is worth the wait.

As it stands, the Department of Education says it will draft a new policy on soda and snacks in schools. It will solicit public input, including that of soda makers and distributors, before finalizing the policy, which would go into effect next year.

For their part, soda distributors say they are willing to make soft drinks unavailable to students during the school day and after-school activities. The sale of soda during school hours is already prohibited, so this would just extend the ban to cover events immediately after school. What the

distributors won’t accept is having soda machines turned off all the time. Adults at schools for evening athletic events and town meetings should be able to buy a soda, according to their reasoning. It seems like a minor point, but it may be a compromise if it means making machines dispensing soda and sugary snacks off-limits to kids while they are at school.

There are two main reasons that beverage distributors are now backing what amounts to a ban, the same measure they fought before a legislative committee last spring. The first is politics. It simply became unpalatable to continue to fight this measure. With the unhealthy effects of soda becoming widely known – like the fact that soda is a major contributor to childhood obesity – this was ultimately a losing battle.

The second reason was economics. In schools, bottled water is now outselling soda 3-to-1. Given this business reality, it is easy for the companies to now switch to machine fronts that advertise water instead of Pepsi or Coke. Changing the scoreboards should soon follow.

This turn of events again shows the power of the market place and its ability to trump lawmakers in setting public policy. While members of the Education Committee made it clear they opposed a bill outlawing the sale of soda and sugary snacks on school grounds, they heartily supported the Soft Drink Association’s commitment to do the same.

In the end, it doesn’t really matter how the policy came to be. What matters is that Maine, if the Department of Education does what it has proposed, will become the first state in the country with such a stringent policy. That’s something to drink to.