HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 34

(By Delegates Compton, Yeager, Susman, Mahan, Hubbard, Poling, Spencer, Fleischauer, Douglas, Leach, Hrutkay, Webster, Marshall, Brown, Hatfield, L. Smith, Smirl, Mathews and Warner)


[Introduced March 28, 2001; referred to the

Committee on Rules.]


Requesting the state board of education and the several county boards of education to implement measures to insure that school children in this state receive sufficient levels of calcium in foods and beverages offered to them by the schools in this state for normal growth and development.

Whereas, Calcium deficient diets are clearly associated with many health disorders, including osteoporosis, hypertension, preeclampsia, and colon cancer; and
Whereas, According to the centers for disease control in this country, calcium deficient diets are an epidemic in the United States; and
Whereas, Bones grow and incorporate calcium most rapidly during the teenage years, and establish approximately ninety percent of adult bone mass by age seventeen, but only thirteen percent of teenage girls get the calcium necessary to build their bones to peak capacity; and
Whereas, The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) recognizes inadequate calcium consumption among children and adolescents to be a growing problem and a serious threat to their later health, growth and development; and
Whereas, Many children do not meet their needs for calcium because calcium foods and beverages are being displaced by other foods and beverages, like soft drinks; and
Whereas, Children of this state can receive calcium rich foods and beverages at school without changing their dietary habits; therefore, be it
Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the state board of education and the several county boards of education are urged to adopt policies and procedures that insure that foods and beverages made available to children in the schools in this state have sufficient levels of calcium to promote good health and normal development; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Clerk is hereby directed to forward a copy of this resolution to the state board of education and to each of the several county boards of education existing in this state.