Summary

Original source:
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/state/hc-18214549.apds.m0013.bc-ct-xgr--may18,0,625371.story?coll=hc-headlines-local-wire

Details

• State representatives on Wednesday diluted a section of a wide-reaching school nutrition bill that would have required public schools to stop selling soda.
• Bogged down in a lengthy debate, lawmakers changed the proposal to allow sales of diet soda and sports drinks, but only in high schools.
• The House approved the amended measure 88-55 after eight hours of discussion and sent it back to the Senate for final approval.
• The legislation was designed to curb a rising childhood obesity rate.
• It would require at least 20 minutes of recess each day for children in kindergarten through fifth grade outside of gym class.
• Vending machines, cafeterias and school stores would be able to stock only healthy snacks approved by the state Department of Education.
• Weary proponents lauded the bill late Wednesday as the strongest childhood obesity legislation in the country.
• While other states - including California and Arkansas - have passed limited bans, they are not as extensive as Connecticut's, they said.
• Lawmakers left cans and bottles of soda on their desks as they talked, and at one point a soda was mysteriously planted on Fleischmann's desk.
• For many the issue came down to a single question: Should schools act as parents?
• Rep. Konstantinos Diamantis, D-Bristol, said he weighed 240 pounds as an eighth grader and couldn't play sports because of weight limits.
• "Banning a particular food isn't going to teach a child a proper form of nutrition."
• For the schools that don't, most only need to add 10 or 15 minutes, Fleischmann said.
• If schools have trouble meeting the requirements, teachers could add a few minutes of physical activity in class, said Rep. Mary Mushinsky, D-Wallingford, a longtime advocate for nutrition legislation.
• In New Haven, Nathan Hale Elementary School went "junk free" last year.

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