High school student campaigns against soft drinks

01/16/2003

From KING 5 Staff Reports

OLYMPIA - State legislators will hear Thursday from a Snohomish High School senior who’s leading an unpopular campaign to ban soda sales from schools.

Danielle Pratt will argue her case to the House Health Committee in Olympia.

Pratt says the vending machines at her school contribute to obesity.

Of course, the soda industry disagrees. Also, those machines raise tens of thousands of dollars for schools.

 
Danielle Pratt hopes to replace soft drinks with healthier alternatives.
Pratt would like to see the soda replaced with other drinks, like juice and milk.

“I think that replacing them with other machines will make up for some of that lost revenue and also that the health of our students is much more important than the money that our (school budget) gets for dances," she said.

One representative suggests jacking up the price of pop to subsidize the sale of more healthful drinks.