Non-CERU Writing

In this report, the Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights considers the impact commercial advertising and marketing practices have on the enjoyment of cultural rights, with a particular focus on freedom of thought, opinion and expression, cultural diversity and ways of life, the rights of children with respect to education and leisure, academic and artistic freedom and the right to participate in cultural life and to enjoy the arts.

Author: Anne Marie Chaker Source: Wall Street Journal In the newest twist in schoolhouse commercialism, corporations are creating curricula, lesson plans, and materials in the hope that students will become employees.

Author: Susan Linn Institution: Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood Susan Linn points out some conflicts of interest in Al Gore's activities. While promoting environmental awareness and the need to conserve resources, he is also helping advertisers with global consumerism.

Author: Trevor Norris Source: Educational Researcher Trevor Norris offers a positive review of Alex Molnar's book School Commercialism: From Democratic Ideal to Market Commodity.

Author: Stephen Petrina Source: Teachers College Record In his review of Alex Molnar's book, School Commercialism: From Democratic Ideal to Market Commodity, Stephen Petrina says the book is "the clearest, most cogent and productive book on the issue" of schoolhouse commercialism.

Source: San Francisco Chronicle Faced with the prospect of soda bans being enacted by states across the country, beverage giants such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi announced that that they would voluntarily stop selling syrupy sodas in most public schools.

Author: Samantha Gross Source: Associated Press The Alliance for a Healthier Generation School Beverage Policy guidelines were voluntarily adopted by the American Beverage Association, Cadbury Schweppes PLC, Coca-Cola Co., and PepsiCo, among others.

Author: Stuart Poyntz Source: Education Review In his review of Alex Molnar's book, School Commercialism: From Democratic Ideal to Market Commodity, Stuart Poyntz says the book examines "how various commercial initiatives...threaten the future of American education."

Author: William Saletan Source: The Washington Post Legislators, lawyers, and concerned citizens have waged a new war on America's growing obesity problem.

Author: Libby Quaid Source: Associated Press Lawmakers are expelling soda, candy bars, chips, and other junk food from the nation's schools in an attempt to curb childhood obesity.

Author: Marian Burros Source: The New York Times Under a proposed bill, an amendment to the National School Lunch Act, high nutritional standards would be required of all food sold on school premises.

Author: Valerie Elliott Source: The Times Online (Britain) Soft drinks were being removed from supermarket shelves last night after they were found to be contaminated with a cancer-causing chemical.

Author: David Goldstein Source: Knight Ridder Newspapers Some leading public-health experts want education officials to ban certain soft drinks from public schools until they are proven to be safe and free of the cancer-causing chemical benzene.

Author: Melanie Warner Source: The New York Times Data released yesterday by Beverage Digest, the industry trade publication, shows that for the first time in 20 years, the number of cases of soda sold in the United States declined.

Author: Jeremy Laurance Source: The Statesman On every continent childish waistlines are expanding, driven by low-energy lifestyles and high-energy foods. According to obesity specialists, the accretion of adipose tissue on developing bodies is already having a damaging effect on their health.

Authors: Erica Weintraub Austin, Yi-Chun "Yvonnes" Chen, Bruce E. Pinkleton, and Jessie Quintero Johnson Source: American Academy of Pediatrics This study analyzed the differential effects of Channel One depending on whether early-adolescent viewers received a media-literacy lesson in conjunction with viewing the program. The authors concluded that the program can provide some benefits to young adolescents, but the results also provide justification for concerns about the commercialization of the classroom.

Source: News24.com The number of overweight children worldwide will sharply increase by the end of the decade, a report says.

Author: Martin Hickman Source: The Independent News The signs of a profound shift in our shopping and eating habits are growing apace. Market research shows that a sharp divide has opened up between the sales of healthy and unhealthy foods.

Source: Public Health Institute This study found indications that many high school campuses in California are targets of food and beverage marketing from companies and brands associated with foods that are discouraged in children's diets including soda, sports drinks and other sugary beverages, chips, candy, and fast food.

Author: Dayle Hayes Source: Nutrition for the Future, Inc. In this tool kit, concerned citizens, health professionals, and school officials can find all the information needed to develop, implement and manage a local school wellness program.

Author: John F. Banzhaf III Institution: George Washington University Banzhaf writes to formally offer advice concerning the imminent filing of massive class action law suits aimed at the sale of sugary soft drinks in schools and your inevitable involvement in these law suits as a named party or otherwise.

Author: Tamar Lewin Source: The New York Times Next fall, a stunning $55 million high school will open on the edge of Fairmount Park. It is a public school being used to raise a lot of private money.

Author: Chris Mercer Source: BeverageDaily.com A lawsuit aimed at getting soft drink firms out of U.S. schools on obesity grounds is now ready to go, says one of the leading lawyers involved with BeverageDaily.com.

Author: John F. Banzhaf III Institution: George Washington University Source: Banzhaf.net A new law suit charging cereal giant Kellogg's and Viacom with "directly harming kids' health" is only the latest in a growing movement to use legal action against the problem of obesity, says public interest law professor John Banzhaf.

Source: Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) Parents and advocacy groups today announced their intent to file suit against Viacom and Kellogg's to stop them from marketing junk food to young children.

Author: Melanie Warner Source: New York Times In a lawsuit they plan to file in the next few months, Mr. Gardner–staff lawyer for the Center for Science in the Public Interest–and half a dozen other lawyers, several of them veterans of successful tobacco litigation, will seek to ban sales of sugary beverages in schools.

Author: Caroline E. Mayer Source: Washington Post Advertising junk food on television has enticed children into eating massive amounts of unhealthy food, leading to a sharp increase in obesity and diabetes, according to a report by the Institute of Medicine.

Author: Associated Press Source: CNN.com In a recently released report, the American Beverage Association says that the amount of non-diet soft drinks sold in the nation's schools dropped more than 24 percent between 2002 and 2004.

Source: Institute of Medicine of the National Academies This report explores what is known about current food and beverage marketing practices, the influence of these practices on the diets and health of children and youth, and public and private strategies that can be used to promote healthful food and beverage choices in children and youth.

Author: Robert F. Wescott Source: American Beverage Association This study provides an analysis of the sales of beverages in America's schools, including carbonated soft drinks (CSDs), juices, sports drinks, teas, milks, and waters.

Author: Michael Blanding Source: The Boston Globe Across the country, the 10 largest school systems – including Boston Public Schools last year – have banned soda sales in schools. In this new campaign against Big Macs and Big Gulps, a veteran of the tobacco wars is leading the charge against what he calls Big Soda.

Author: Caroline Wilbert Source: Cox News Service The beverage industry is getting ready to spend millions of dollars on an ad campaign to publicize its new policy restricting soft drink sales in school vending machines.

Authors: J.J. Hensley and Anne Ryman Source: The Arizona Republic The ink isn't dry on the state's proposed healthy-food standards for public elementary and middle schools, and groups are already picking sides in the anticipated fight over a similar policy for high schools.

Author: Janice Billingsley Source: HealthDay News The number and frequency of American children eating restaurant-served fried foods are climbing at an alarming rate, according to a new study of more than 14,000 adolescents.

Author: Lorne Manly Source: The New York Times No longer are brands mere props on the set or the supporting stars of reality shows. Advertisers and their representatives are increasingly working with a show's writers and producers and the network's ad sales staff to incorporate products into the story lines of scripted shows as part of more elaborate marketing deals.

Authors: S. Bryn Austin, ScD, Steven J. Melly, MS, Brisa N. Sanchez, ScM, Aarti Patel, BA, Stephen Buka, ScD and Steven L. Gortmaker, PhD Institution: Harvard University Source: American Journal of Public Health Fast-food restaurants are concentrated within a short walking distance from schools, exposing children to poor-quality food environments in their school neighborhoods.

Source: U.S. Government Accountability Office This GAO report (1) describes the key strategies identified by experts as most important to include in programs to prevent or reduce childhood obesity; (2) provides examples of how selected programs implemented the key strategies identified and challenges these programs faced; (3) describes the program elements identified by experts as most important to include in programs to prevent or reduce childhood obesity; and (4) provides examples of how selected programs implemented key elements identified and the challenges these programs faced.

Source: California Pan-Ethnic Health Network and Consumers Union Consumers Union uses recently released data to highlight one of the key factors contributing to the obesity epidemic: the unending barrage of food, beverage, and fast food advertising in the United States.

Author: Ross Getman Source: The Buffalo News In this op-ed by Syracuse parent Ross Getman, he says that "it is time for parents, nutritionists and medical doctors and dentists to ... encourage schools and soda companies to pull soda out of public schools entirely."

Authors: Bloomberg News Source: The New York Times The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, and Cadbury Schweppes will extend their ban on soft drink sales to include United States middle schools, ceding to pressure from health advocates and parents to reduce obesity in children.