Ban Vending Machines

Vending machines should be banned because they have to much unhealthy foods. They encourage kids to eat unhealthy only because they have unhealthy foods in them.

I have a strong belief that eating good food is important but since I started 7th grade it’s been very hard to supervise and keep track of what I’ve been eating. I want to get loves with friends, and although there are some healthy options they also sell a lot of junk food, too. Also there are vending machines at school that sell junk food, crisps and fizzy drinks. Don’t schools need to ban these? Junk food also causes tooth and gum decay. Sugar-laden fizzy drinks, sold in most vending machines, are particularly bad for teeth. Some children consume these on a daily basis, sometimes buying them without parental knowledge.

Youngsters who have little guidance or monitoring by parents are in much more danger of falling into bad habits, and it can be difficult if they are surrounded by friends who eat poor quality food. As an 7th grader I appreciate my parents’ persistence in giving me healthy snacks at school when some of my friends were constantly eating junk food , only to develop mouthfuls of fillings by the time they were seniors.

Doctors today urged the government to ban school vending machines that sell unhealthy fizzy drinks and snacks and introduce mandatory nutrition guidelines for all school meals.The recommendations in its report Preventing Childhood Obesity came as doctors warned that 20% of boys and 33% of girls in the UK will be officially classified as obese by 2020 unless steps are taken now to tackle the crisis. Launching the report, the BMA’s head of science and ethics, Dr Vivienne Nathanson, said this morning: ‘It is madness that at a time when children are being told to eat less and do more exercise they go into school and are sold fizzy drinks and doughnuts and do less than two hours’ timetabled exercise a week.Children and parents are surrounded by the marketing of unhealthy cereals, snacks and processed meals. This has to stop.Doctors estimate that there are now around 1 million obese children under the age of 16, a situation they say has led to an increase in the number of cases of young people with type two diabetes.

In Ireland, if we are to deal with a problem which costs the State approximately €1 billion annually in treating individuals who are overweight or obese, it is essential that ongoing and sustainable school programmes, teacher training, and training for communities and parents are in place to reverse obesity trends.The committee, which held a number of hearings into the issue of obesity last year, heard evidence that many schools were failing to ensure healthy choices were available for students at second level.Childhood obesity is a problem across the developed world and it is a complex problem, in that it is driven by biological, behavioural, and contextual factors. Unhealthy food should be phased out of school canteens and shops to help counter childhood obesity. So therefore vending machines should be banned from schools.