Television interview, Dr. Haikerwal on 'Sunrise' Channel 7 - Obesity, ban on soft drinks in Victorian schools
MELISSA DOYLE: Changing topics completely and washing down lunch with a can of soft drink will soon be a thing of the past for schoolkids in Victoria. Sugar-loaded fizz will be banned from all Victorian state schools by the end of the year.
MARK BERETTA: It's the first complete ban in Australia so let's get some reaction. Dr Mukesh Haikerwal is the President of the AMA. Doctor, good morning to you. You must be fairly pleased with this ban.
DR HAIKERWAL: This is certainly an important step but there's an awful lot of work still that needs to be done. Obviously soft drinks are very important sources of high amounts of sugar and that sugar is excess to young people's needs during the working day and, obviously, if they are thirsty, water is the best replacement for that water that they're losing during the course of the day. The other thing, of course, is that when you take fruit juice as a substitute for these other drinks it's also stacked full of sugar as well and on its own is something that also needs to be avoided and as a treat in a small amount these things are fine but it has to be water and the water should be the mainstay of people's needs during the school day.
MELISSA DOYLE: All right, so you said a lot more needs to be done. Is that what you're saying? Everything but water and maybe milk should be banned?
DR HAIKERWAL: Certainly we have a very hardhitting policy and it's hardhitting because it has to be. The situation that we've got is really quite critical now. Within under 20 years' time more than half of all of our children and young people will be either overweight or obese and that brings with it a significant amount of illness, early illness, diabetes, things like heart attack, stroke, cancers early and what we've got to do is really head this off at the pass. It's really gone a significant way down the road. We've got to get very tough with this because if we don't this crisis will really spiral out of control, as this generation of children will be the first that won't actually outlive their own parents and that's really scary.
MARK BERETTA: Pretty dramatic. Mukesh, this is a major advancement, obviously, but isn't there the risk that kids will just pick up the drinks and the chocolate bars on the way to school and take them along?
DR HAIKERWAL: Look, it's very important that the good health messages that are found within the classroom are repeated with the choices available in the canteen and outside the school, obviously at home as well and in between and so it's about making sure the kids understand why these things are not there for everyday use but there as a treat and why it's important to have water as the mainstay of rehydration during the working day.
MELISSA DOYLE: So do you think maybe there needs to be more education to parents? I mean, I know that there's been a push for junkfood advertising to be banned during children's TV but is that far enough? Is it families that need educating here?
DR HAIKERWAL: It's an across-the-board solution but really governments take the role in terms of advertising. During the school holiday period kids can watch about one-and-a-half movie lengths' worth of advertising just in six weeks and, of course, that really drives that push for the parents to buy this stuff and drives them to keep demanding the stuff. So it is about advertising. And it works, that's why advertisers keep doing it and that's why the self-regulation isn't working.
Parents, of course, have a role to play. Local councils have a role to play, making the sports areas safe and well lit, bike paths, walkways and so on, and obviously governments are doing things within schools and they need to keep doing that.
I think what we've seen here is a toe dipped in the water. We need to be up on that top platform on the diving board and having a good look around and actually plunging in and grabbing this with both hands because it's such an important aspect of our lives we've got to get right.
MELISSA DOYLE: Certainly is, a many-pronged approach. We've had lots of different emails this morning, some saying, you know, it's not up to schools to step in and do it. Other ones, such as Debbie in Queensland, it says their tuckshop operates on a smart card system and parents can advise the school of any items that children aren't allowed to have. If they try and purchase them the tuckshop won't allow them. So obviously there are many prongs that works here and hopefully they will all come together and look after the health of our kids so Mukesh Haikerwal, it's always good to talk to you. We'll see you soon.
DR HAIKERWAL: Thanks, Mel.