Experts urge ban on industry-funded material in schools

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 "harmful" influences.

- Denis Campbell

Dozens of doctors, health charities and public health specialists have written to the education secretary warning that firms are sponsoring resources used in lessons, despite them misrepresenting the evidence about diets, alcohol and betting.

Some of the materials teach young people how to pour glasses of wine, distort the evidence about alcohol's role in causing cancer, and promote "responsible gambling" to them, the letter says.

The Obesity Health Alliance, British Medical Association, directors of public health and World Cancer Research Fund are among those who have signed the letter. They are alarmed by companies gaining "corporate reach" in schools by supplying teacher resource packs and student information sheets which they claim constitute "misleading and harmful classroom materials".