If some cunning trial lawyers get their way, the people in line at McDonald’s won’t be the only ones fattening up on fast food.
Having taken lessons from the class-action smorgasbord against the tobacco industry, legal fat cats around the country are setting their sights on the food industry. Their argument: Consumers are being duped into eating too much, causing a national epidemic of obesity.
Call it the McLawsuit.
That an epidemic is upon us is true enough. The percentage of Americans who are overweight is on a steady climb, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicted last month that one in three U.S. children born in 2000 will become diabetic unless many more people start eating less and exercising more.
But who’s to blame? With a straight face, these lawyers will argue that it’s not the person cramming the burgers, fries and sodas into their mouths. No, they’ll say, it’s the fast food operators who offer high-calorie, high-fat meals, and the food makers who put too much fat in their chips and cookies and make them too darned hard to resist.
Who will they go after next, the TV networks for serving up too much mental junk food?
This is another example of our litigious culture trying to exonerate us of personal responsibility. When something goes wrong, ignore your own role in it and point your finger at a deep pocket. And make a few trial lawyers rich along the way.
A better answer lies in encouraging consumers to read the labels on food they buy at the supermarket, and requiring fast-food vendors to post nutritional information in plain sight. Another good idea is a new federal rule that will force food makers to add trans fats to nutritional labels. (Trans fats are artery-clogging substances found predominantly in tub margarine, vegetable shortening and many snacks.) Schools should also work harder to offer healthy choices to students, resisting the financial rewards offered by junk-food vending machines.
Common-sense legislation introduced by U.S. Rep. Ric Keller (R-Fla.) would bar lawsuits against food companies whose products comply with existing regulations. Congress should spare our legal system its own artery-clogging stream of frivolous suits by giving Keller’s bill quick and resounding approval.
Meanwhile, most of us would do well to take firmer control of our own health by eating a little less and exercising a little more. And remember, when someone asks if you want that meal supersized, "no" is an option.
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