Soda Distributors to End Most School Sales

Arthur Smith, 15, waits for the drink machines to unlock during lunch Thursday, Aug. 18, 2005, at Broadmoor High School in Baton Rouge, La. (AP Photo/Arthur D. Lauck) (Arthur D. Lauck - AP)

NEW YORK -- The nation's largest beverage distributors have agreed to halt nearly all sales of sodas to public schools _ a step that will remove the sugary, caloric drinks from vending machines and cafeterias around the country.

The agreement was announced Wednesday by the William J. Clinton Foundation and will also likely apply to many private and parochial schools.

"This is a bold step forward in the struggle to help 35 million young people lead healthier lives," former President Clinton said at a news conference. "This one policy can add years and years and years to the lives of a very large number of young people."

Under the agreement, the companies also have agreed to sell only water, unsweetened juice and low-fat milks to elementary and middle schools. Diet sodas would be sold only to high schools.

"I don't think anyone should underestimate the influence this agreement will have," Susan Neely, president and CEO of the American Beverage Association, which has signed onto the deal, said earlier Wednesday. "I think other people are going to want to follow this agreement because it just makes sense."

The agreement should reach an estimated 87 percent of the public and private school drink market, Neely said. Industry giants Cadbury Schweppes PLC, Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc. and the ABA have signed on. Officials said they hope companies representing the other 13 percent of the market would follow suit.

The Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a collaboration between Clinton's foundation and the American Heart Association, helped broker the deal.

"The soft drink industry has decided that it won't wait to be pushed," said Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, the co-chair of the alliance. "It jumped in. ... It may be the soft drink industry, but they made a very hard decision."

The move follows a mounting wave of regulation by school boards and legislators alarmed by reports of rising childhood obesity. Soda has been a particular target of those fighting obesity because of its caloric content and popularity among children.

Still, the deal imposes stricter drink regulations than are currently in place for nearly 35 million public school students.

"This is really the beginning of a major effort to modify childhood obesity at the level of the school systems," said Robert H. Eckel, the president of the Heart Association, adding that the alliance would also be working to put healthier foods in schools.

John Sicher, editor and publisher of Beverage Digest, which compiles extensive data on the beverage industry, said the agreement would have no impact on the $63 billion beverage industry's bottom line.