article: burgers, fries, and lawyers-- interesting read.

I wasn't sure where to put this, but I initially ran into this article looking at average protein in certain foods. The article as a whole is pretty interesting. Sorry if this is in the wrong forum-- wasn't sure where to put it.


http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3647/is_200402/ai_n9347754/pg_1


Burgers, Fries, And Lawyers
Policy Review, Feb/Mar 2004 by Buchholz, Todd G

A scene: The overweight baseball fan jumps to his feet in the bleachers of Wrigley Field, screaming for the Chicago Cubs to hold onto their 3-2 lead in the bottom of the ninth inning. he squeezes a Cubs pennant in his left hand while shoving a mustard-smeared hot dog into his mouth with the right. The Dodgers have a runner on first, who is sneaking a big lead off the base. The Cubs' pitcher has thrown three balls and two strikes to the batter, a notorious power hitter. The obese fan holds his breath while the pitcher winds up and fires a blazing fastball. "Crack!" The ball flies over the fan's head into the bleachers for a game-winning home run. The fan slumps to his bleacher seat and has a heart attack.


Whom should the fan sue? (a) The Cubs for breaking his heart? (b) The hot dog company for making a fatty food? (c) The hot dog vendor for selling him a fatty food? (d) all of the above
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A FEW YEARS AGO these questions might have seemed preposterous. But now scenes better suited for the absurd stories of Kafka snake their way into serious courtroom encounters. While no federal court has yet heard a case on behalf of sulking baseball fans, last year the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York responded to a complaint filed against McDonald's by a class of obese customers, alleging among other things that the company acted negligently in selling foods that were high in cholesterol, fat, salt, and sugar. In the past 10 years we have seen an outburst of class action lawsuits that alleged harm to buyers. With classes numbering in the thousands, these suits may bring great riches to tort lawyers, even if they provide little relief to the plaintiffs. The sheer size of the claims and the number of claimants often intimidate defending firms, which fear that their reputations will be tarnished in the media and their stock prices will be punished - not because of the merits but from the ensuing publicity. In his opinion in the McDonald's case, judge Robert W. Sweet suggested that the McDonald's suit could "spawn thousands of similar 'McLawsuits' against restaurants." Recent books with titles like Fat Land and Fast Food Nation promote the view that fast food firms are harming our health and turning us into a people who are forced to shop in the "big and tall" section of the clothing stores. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that "big and tall" has become a $6 billion business in menswear, "representing more than a 10 percent share of the total men's market.

But before the legal attack on fast food gets too far along, it would be useful to look at the facts behind fast food and fat America and to ask whether the courtroom is really the place to determine what and where people should eat.

Why is fast food under attack?

FAST FOOD RESTAURANTS have exploded in popularity since World War II. More cars, more suburbs, and more roads have made roadside eating more convenient. During the 19508, drive-through and drive-in hamburger, ice cream, and pizza joints catered to a mobile population. McDonald's, which specialized in roadside restaurants, eclipsed White Castle hamburger stands in the 19608 because the latter had focused more on urban walk-up customers. The McDonald's road signs in the early 19605 boasted of serving ? million hamburgers; now McDonalds claims to have sold over 99 billion. The "zeros" in ioo billion will not fit on the firm's tote-board signs when the one-hundred-billionth burger is sold.

And yet, despite the popularity of such firms as McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and Subway - at which American consumers voluntarily spend over $100 billion annually - it has become fashionable to denounce these restaurants for a variety of sins: "They make people fat." "They hypnotize the kids." "They bribe the kids with toys." "They destroy our taste for more sophisticated foods." These condemnations often come from highbrow observers who claim that fast food customers are too ignorant or too blinded to understand what they are putting in their own mouths. The onslaught of criticism is not limited to the food. Animal rights activists condemn fast food outlets for animal cruelty. Environmentalists allege that fast food produces too much "McLitter." Orthodox organic food fans accuse fast food firms of using genetically modified ingredients, which they call "frankenfoods." In Europe, anti-globalization protestors allege that fast food homogenizes culture and spreads capitalism far and wide.

With the fury directed at fast food firms, it is no surprise that tort lawyers have jumped into the fray. Tort lawyers around the country settled the $2.46 billion tobacco case in 1998. Those who have not retired on their stake from that settlement are wondering whether fast food could be the "next tobacco," along with HMOS and lead paint. After all, the surgeon general estimates that obesity creates about $115 billion in annual health care costs. There are differences, of course. No one, so far, has shown that cheeseburgers are chemically addictive. Furthermore, most fast food restaurants freely distribute their nutritional content and offer a variety of meals, some high in fat, some not. Nor is it clear that the average fast food meal is significantly less nutritious than the average restaurant meal, or even the average home meal. The iconic 1943 Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving painting ("Freedom from Want") highlights a plump turkey, which is high in protein. But surely the proud hostess has also prepared gravy, stuffing, and a rich pie for dessert - which, though undoubtedly tasty, would not win a round of applause from nutritionists.

click link for rest of story.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3647/is_200402/ai_n9347754/pg_1
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