\n<\/p>\n
Health experts have urged Bridget Phillipson to stop schools using educational materials funded by the food, drink and gambling industries, in order to protect children from \u201charmful\u201d influences.<\/p>\n
Dozens of doctors, health charities and public health specialists have written to the education secretary warning her that such firms are sponsoring resources used in lessons with pupils, despite them misrepresenting the evidence about diets, alcohol and betting.<\/p>\n
Some of the materials teach young people how to pour glasses of wine, distort the evidence about alcohol\u2019s role in causing cancer, and promote \u201cresponsible gambling\u201d to them, the letter says.<\/p>\n
The Obesity Health Alliance, British Medical Association, and directors of public health and World Cancer Research Fund are among those who have signed the letter. They are alarmed by companies gaining \u201ccorporate reach\u201d in schools by supplying teacher resource packs and student information sheets that they claim constitute \u201cmisleading and harmful classroom materials\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wouldn\u2019t let big tobacco teach children about smoking. So why are we allowing the alcohol, gambling and junk food industries into classrooms?\u201d said Chris van Tulleken, a professor of infectious disease and global health at University College London. \u201cAllowing these industries into schools distorts learning and helps industry establish the next generation of customers.\u201d<\/p>\n
The coalition of 58 health experts, groups and academics wants Phillipson to adopt the same tough approach as the Republic of Ireland. In 2022 its government told schools not to use materials in the classroom that had been funded by the alcohol industry or other \u201cparties with conflicts of interest\u201d.<\/p>\n
Academic studies have found that \u201cself-claimed prevention education programmes \u2026 serve the interests of their commercial funders. The materials help to normalise harmful behaviours, omit or misrepresent important risks, and shift responsibility for harm on to individuals, including children and young people, and away from the industries and their practices.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr May van Schalkwyk, a research fellow at the University of Edinburgh and expert in corporate tactics, said: \u201cThe evidence is clear. Industries whose products are undermining the health and wellbeing of children and young people fund harmful youth education programmes as part of their corporate strategies. Urgent action is needed to prevent this form of influence and conflicts of interest\u201d.<\/p>\n
The letter highlights examples of how the alcohol, gambling and junk food industries have been gaining influence in schools by supplying sponsored resources.<\/p>\n
It claims that Smashed, a play about underage drinking sponsored by drinks firm Diageo used in PSHE lessons, contains \u201ccancer misinformation, for instance omitting the most common forms of alcohol-related cancer or suggesting alcohol-related cancers are only associated with heavy drinking\u201d.<\/p>\n
The letter also alleges that Gamble Aware, an industry-funded charity, has produced \u201ceducational materials that promote the industry-favoured idea of \u2018responsible gambling\u2019. These introduce young people to gambling products and may facilitate gambling initiations, for example by teaching students how to use a betting slip.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition, \u201cin some sixth-form colleges, brands like Costa Coffee and Starbucks have set up entire outlets that sell items packed with sugar\u201d, the letter adds. Zoe Osmond, Gamble Aware\u2019s chief executive, said it commissions \u201ca broad range of independently designed and delivered education programmes, which are evaluated using transparent criteria by independent researchers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe only ever commission activity aimed to raise awareness of the risks of gambling and direct people to appropriate support and treatment. It is inaccurate and irresponsible to suggest otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n
Drinkaware said it no longer sponsors materials for schools. \u201cThe education programme referenced in the letter [about how to pour drinks] was wound down in 2019, six years ago and three years before the academic paper cited was published\u201d, a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
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Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.<\/span><\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Diageo rebutted the letter\u2019s description of Smashed, which it said \u201chas successfully educated hundreds of thousands of young people on the risks of underage drinking. It is disappointing this letter attempts to undermine a proven initiative.<\/p>\n \u201cNinety-nine per cent of participating teachers surveyed last year said it was important programmes like this are funded to visit schools, and 87% said they now feel more confident talking with young people about the dangers of underage drinking.<\/p>\n \u201cThe programme makes clear unambiguous references to several risks associated with alcohol including various cancers, and it is misleading to suggest otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n Starbucks said that it has opened outlets \u201cin a small number of schools and further education facilities\u201d, but in schools they are only available to sixth-formers.<\/p>\n A Department for Education spokesperson said: \u201cThrough our plan for change we have already strengthened statutory guidance to address these concerns, making it clear that schools should check that external resources are unbiased and should guard against organisations that have a broader interest in promoting harmful products.<\/p>\n \u201cSchools are responsible for setting their own policies on these subjects, in line with this guidance, and are best placed to decide what materials, speakers or organisations to use based on their knowledge of their pupils and communities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Health experts have urged Bridget Phillipson to stop schools using educational materials funded by the food, drink and gambling industries, in order to protect children from \u201charmful\u201d influences. Dozens of doctors, health charities and public health specialists have written to the education secretary warning her that such firms are sponsoring resources used in lessons with<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14599,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[4525,163,4470,320,661,1725,6303,37,1433,334,588,1763],"class_list":{"0":"post-14598","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-social-issues","8":"tag-backed","9":"tag-ban","10":"tag-drink","11":"tag-experts","12":"tag-firms","13":"tag-food","14":"tag-gambling","15":"tag-health","16":"tag-materials","17":"tag-school","18":"tag-schools","19":"tag-urge"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}