Mike Irwin
Member
From the Seattle Post Intelligencer.
Full article is here: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/129155_coke02.html
"A prominent Washington, D.C., law professor who led billion-dollar victories against the tobacco industry warned the Seattle School Board yesterday that it might become the target of an anti-obesity lawsuit for allowing middle and high schools to peddle soda to students.
George Washington University professor John Banzhaf said he and other lawyers would lend their support to lawsuits against school boards in districts that have exclusive vending machine contracts with soft drink providers.
He said Seattle Public Schools is a prime target for such a lawsuit, given its exclusive five-year contract with Coca-Cola. The School Board had been scheduled to vote at tonight's meeting on whether to extend the contract, which expires Aug. 31, but the vote has been delayed until at least July 17.
Banzhaf said via telephone during a news conference in Seattle yesterday that since schools and school boards have a legal duty to protect students, Seattle School Board members could be sued individually and as a group if the district renews the Coke contract. A lawsuit is in the "planning stages," he said, and lawyers involved in the fight against the tobacco industry will offer assistance to any plaintiffs in a suit against the Seattle School Board.
"I feel very strongly ... that it is terribly wrong, terribly wrong, for school boards and school board members to be making money by harming the health of children," he said.
The contract allows only Coca-Cola products to be sold in school vending machines and nets about $400,000 annually for school activities."
Full article is here: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/129155_coke02.html
"A prominent Washington, D.C., law professor who led billion-dollar victories against the tobacco industry warned the Seattle School Board yesterday that it might become the target of an anti-obesity lawsuit for allowing middle and high schools to peddle soda to students.
George Washington University professor John Banzhaf said he and other lawyers would lend their support to lawsuits against school boards in districts that have exclusive vending machine contracts with soft drink providers.
He said Seattle Public Schools is a prime target for such a lawsuit, given its exclusive five-year contract with Coca-Cola. The School Board had been scheduled to vote at tonight's meeting on whether to extend the contract, which expires Aug. 31, but the vote has been delayed until at least July 17.
Banzhaf said via telephone during a news conference in Seattle yesterday that since schools and school boards have a legal duty to protect students, Seattle School Board members could be sued individually and as a group if the district renews the Coke contract. A lawsuit is in the "planning stages," he said, and lawyers involved in the fight against the tobacco industry will offer assistance to any plaintiffs in a suit against the Seattle School Board.
"I feel very strongly ... that it is terribly wrong, terribly wrong, for school boards and school board members to be making money by harming the health of children," he said.
The contract allows only Coca-Cola products to be sold in school vending machines and nets about $400,000 annually for school activities."