The UK's loosing juice - and cutting loose Sunny D-plight Back in April (Daily Dose, 4/18 and 4/21) I reported about the dangerous levels of found recently in several types of diet sodas. Levels were high enough in some cases to be deemed unsafe for human consumption - resulting in large quantities of product being pulled from store shelves. But apparently, even this petro-chemical can't hold a candle to the awesome toxicity of… Sunny D (formerly known as Sunny Delight). According to a recent UK Daily Mail article and other sources, a large-scale spill of the ingredients in this drink (advertised for its healthiness, although it's really nothing more than sugar-water fortified with a little orange juice) has threatened to wipe out an entire river system in rural England. Around 4,000 gallons of the raw juice leaked out of a split in an underground fiberglass storage tank at a manufacturing facility and into a small stream in Somerset. Six tons worth of acidic (but natural) additives to this "health" drink caused a massive fish-kill in the creek and triggered a "Category 1" environmental emergency - the highest level categorized by the UK's equivalent to the Environmental Protection Agency. The incident spurred a massive cleanup effort to try to keep the juice from reaching the River Parrett, the main river system that the contaminated creek flows into. According to the article, this effort met with success. This, at least, is good news. I saw photos of this spill, and it was incredible to behold. It looked like a river of pure orange juice. According to spokespersons from the Gerber Foods Company (the makers of Sunny D), the spill was from "substandard" juice scheduled to be disposed of - the right way, I'm sure… Just goes to show you - too much of a "good" thing can kill. Fish, and people too. As for the sugar-water, liquid candy Sunny D, a major UK supermarket chain has pulled it from the shelves - not because of toxic ingredients, but because of lackluster sales. Apparently, the drink is hanging by a thread here in the U.S., too. Just as well. It's no better for kids than full-sugar Coke or Pepsi. And in some other "screwed" up news from the UK…
"Flunk" is not the only F-word in schools these days
We know standards for juvenile behavior in schools have slipped here in the U.S., but apparently England has us beat in that department. Apparently, swearing has become so pervasive in UK schools that in some of them it's now all but part of the curriculum. According to another Daily Mail article from some weeks ago, kids in at least one UK school district (a rougher or lower-class one, I assume) are now allowed to cuss in class. And I'm not just talking about the occasional "jackass" or "damn." I mean the Full Monty of curse words… You know the one. It starts with an "F." The new policy - which is designed to IMPROVE teenagers' behavior (exactly how, I couldn't say) - allows 15- and 16-year-olds to drop the F-bomb up to 5 times per class, with a running tally kept on the chalkboard… The flipside of the program are what school officials are calling "praise postcards." These are notes sent home to alert parents to their kids' GOOD behavior, instead of the traditionally scathing missives when a child cuts up in class (or cuts class). Hmmm. Discouraging poor behavior by allowing it, and making up a disciplinary system which treats good behavior as an exception to be rewarded, rather than a standard not to be let down…. Sounds like the U.S. criminal justice system, don't you think? And we both know how well that works. I wonder how long it'll be before this model hits our schools. They already do most everything else backward… Ruing Brittania, William Campbell Douglass II, M.D. | 
