FOOD NAZIS ON THE MARCH

Premier Alan Carpenter has announced a total ban on "junk food" in West Australian schools:

Cool drinks, cordial, energy drinks, lollies, pies, fatty sandwich meats such as polony and salami, deep-fried foods and ice creams will be banned from canteens and tuck shops in the wake of alarming WA figures which show 30 per cent of girls and 23 per cent of boys are either overweight or obese.

The ban, which follows a nine-month study of school canteens, will also extend to areas where food and drink are supplied in schools, meaning no fatty foods on excursions, camps and sports days.

Traditional student rewards such as lollies and birthday cakes will also be banned in what the Premier says is one of the toughest child obesity crackdowns in the nation.

Casual observers might think students' bulging back-packs are full of books, files and writing equipment when they're really jam packed with 2 liter bottles of Coke, chips and lollies. The ban on canteen junk foods will therefore have little or no effect on the kids' consumption of junk.

The only thing the ban will achieve is reinforcement of the kids' already strong contempt for authority.