SECTION 1.

 This act shall be known and may be cited as the California Childhood Obesity Prevention Act.

SEC. 2.

 The Legislature finds and declares as follows:

(a) In the past two decades obesity has doubled in children, and tripled in adolescents. On average, 30 percent of California’s children are overweight, and in some school districts, anywhere from 40 to 50 percent of California’s pupils are overweight. Only 2 percent of California’s adolescents, between the ages of 12 and 17 years, inclusive, have eating habits that meet national dietary recommendations. Only 23 percent of pupils in grades 5, 7, and 9 are physically fit. Almost half of the children and adolescents diagnosed with diabetes have the Type 2 form of the disease, which is strongly linked to obesity and lack of exercise. One in four obese children have early signs of Type 2 diabetes.

(b) Overweight and physical inactivity costs California an estimated 24.6 billion dollars annually, approximately seven hundred fifty dollars ($750) per person—a cost that is expected to rise by another 32 percent by the year 2005. Poor nutrition and physical inactivity account for more preventable deaths (28 percent) than anything other than tobacco—more than AIDS, violence, car crashes, alcohol, and drugs combined. The long-term impact of childhood obesity on California’s economy, and on our children’s increased risk of death from heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes will be staggering. Approximately 300,000 deaths in the United States per year are currently associated with obesity and overweight; the total direct and indirect costs attributed to overweight and obesity amounted to 117 billion dollars in the year 2000. Obesity is linked to a larger increase of chronic health conditions and accounts for a significantly higher amount of health expenditures than those associated with smoking, heavy drinking, or poverty.

(c) Each additional daily serving of sugar-sweetened soda increases a child’s risk for obesity by 60 percent. Twenty years ago, boys consumed more than twice as much milk as soft drinks, and girls consumed 50 percent more milk than soft drinks. By 1996, both boys and girls consumed twice as many soft drinks as milk. Soft drinks now comprise the leading source of added sugar in a child’s diet. Teenage boys consume twice the recommended amount of sugar each day, almost one-half of which (44 percent) comes from soft drinks. Teenage girls consume almost three times the recommended amount of sugar, 40 percent of which comes from soft drinks.

(d) A study of 9th and 10th grade girls found that those who drank colas were five times more likely to develop bone fractures, and girls who drank other carbonated beverages were three times more likely to suffer bone fractures than nonconsumers of carbonated beverages. Decreased milk consumption means that children are no longer getting required amounts of calcium in their diets. The average teenage girl now consumes 40 percent less calcium than she needs, putting her at high risk of osteoporosis in her later years.