Call for water-only policy at all schools

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

Renewed calls by dentists for a ban on soft drinks in schools should be heeded, backed up as they are by damning statistics.

New Zealand Dental Association spokesman Dr Rob Beaglehole says soft drinks are “decimating” the country’s children.

“Not only do they cause tooth decay, they also contribute to obesity and type 2 diabetes,” he said.

Around 8500 children had to go to hospital last year to have their teeth taken out under general anaesthetic.

“Tooth decay is entirely preventable — the No.1 reason we get holes in our teeth is because of sugar.”

Soft drinks contain significantly more sugar than was suitable for children, he said.

A 600ml bottle of Coca Cola contains 16 teaspoons of sugar; the World Health Organisation recommends that children have a maximum of three teaspoons of sugar per day. So that’s  more than five days worth of sugar in just one bottle.

“There’s no nutritional benefit to drinking sugary drinks — there’s nothing in it that is beneficial,” he said.

Dr Beaglehole said sugar-free soft drinks were also risky.

“Some people believe artificially sweetened beverages are a healthy choice (but) the New Zealand Dental Association does not believe this.

“The problem about (them) is they are extremely acidic, so although they won’t rot your teeth they will still dissolve them.”

He called for the Government to enforce water-only policies on school grounds.

“Currently most primary schools have water-only policies, but what we’d like to see is the Government mandate all schools, including high schools, to have water-only policies.”

The dentists say the Government’s ban on cell phones in classrooms has shown leadership and set a precedent for a similar ban on soft drinks.

“The same thing can be said for water-only policies. We know parents support this, and many high schools have already adopted water-only policies (and) have no problems enforcing it.”

Banning soft drinks would lead to significant savings in the health sector, Dr Beaglehole said.

The cell phone ban was not universally supported, with some education spokespeople saying that it was something the schools could control themselves.

This, however, is entirely different. It is a clearly established source of harm and the pupils will not suffer any loss of personal rights by having to go without soft drinks at least for part of the day. It is also especially needed in this district where in the past statistics show there have been high levels of tooth decay, particularly among Māori children.