Should candy and soda be banned from schools? President Obama has proposed removing high-calorie drinks and snacks from school vending machines.

• Author: Vilsack, Tom
• Position: DEBATE

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YES Removing unhealthy high-calorie snacks and drinks from schools is an important step toward tackling the nation's childhood obesity epidemic.

About a third of American children are overweight or obese. Addressing that problem requires changing what kids eat in school, where many kids consume half of their daily calories.

Reforming our school, meals program will ensure that all, foods served in schools are healthy and nutritious. By setting standards for the food that is served and sold in cafeterias, we can make sure our children have the opportunity for a healthy start in life.

The sale of unhealthy high-calorie snacks and drinks in school vending machines undermines these efforts to ensure access to healthy and nutritious food in schools. But it doesn't mean the end of vending machines in schools; it means stocking them with more nutritious offerings to make healthy choices available to students.

Why is this something the government needs to get involved in? Because the potential impact is enormous. Children who are obese can face lifelong struggles with their weight: 80 percent of teenagers who are obese remain obese as adults. That increases their risk of suffering from certain cancers and chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, asthma, and high blood pressure.

Rebuilding and revitalizing America requires the next generation to be the healthiest and best educated in our history. We won't succeed if our school, environments and our students aren't healthy. If we fail to act, today's children may be the first generation to have shorter life expectancies than their parents.

--TOM VILSACK U.S. SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE

NO It's not the government's job to make decisions about what we eat and where we eat it. That's why it's a bad idea to ban soda and candy from schools.

The problem with government intervention in this area is that it erodes...