Howard County, Md., limits sugary drinks

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BALTIMORE, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- Howard County, Md., is seeking to be a role model by banning high-sugar drinks in county properties, its county executive said.

With County Executive Ken Ulman's executive order to increase the availability of alternative beverages to soda drinks in parks, libraries and at county-sponsored events, "The vending machines will look different, starting right away," he said.

The effort is aimed at reducing incidence of childhood obesity and awareness of the health hazards of sugary drinks, The Baltimore Sun said Wednesday.

Ulman's announced the order Tuesday at a middle school presenting a "Dump That Sugar" campaign kickoff event, which featured a dump truck unloading 9.6 tons of sand in the parking lot, an illustration of the amount of sugar the school's students would consume if each drank a 12-ounce can per day.

Sale of sodas in Howard County elementary schools is prohibited, and limited in its middle schools. In high schools, vending machines cannot contain more than 50 percent sodas, the newspaper said.