Cheeseburger Bill

[ucrzymofo87]

I found this story interesting.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/10/20/ ... rger.bill/

The legislation does not block all legal action against the food industry. A lawsuit would still be permitted if a person got sick from contaminated food.

The people who blame fast food for making them fat are in trouble now. What has happened to self-control?

[Tempest]

Re-fucking-diculous. We shouldn't NEED laws that tell us we can't sue fast-food places for making us fat. If I ever see a person make that claim, I am going to beat them until candy comes out. It's people like this that makes me lose my faith in humanity.

[Damien]

I voted no, but they should offer low fat or fat free dishes.

[raider]

I argee with you. Poeple have no right to complained. It was there own stutid choice to eat fast food.

[newbified]

As ridiculous an idea to sue fast food corporations for making people fat may seem, a not much different bill passed recently that allows that basic premise for those who smoke. Not for making them fat, but for things like cancer. I don't know all of the details of it, as it was passed in the States first, but some provinces in Canada have already adopted the idea.

That legislation allows people to sue tobacco corporations for doctors bills, as a direct result of their smoking.

I find it disheartening that we live in a society now a days where we no longer have to hold ourselves accountable for some actions, like becoming obese, getting lung, throat, mouth or any other kind of cancer from smoking, and instead can make those who sold us the original product bare the blame.

Certainly not those of us who have no willpower.

[Tempest]

I find it disheartening that we live in a society now a days where we no longer have to hold ourselves accountable for some actions, like becoming obese, getting lung, throat, mouth or any other kind of cancer from smoking, and instead can make those who sold us the original product bare the blame.

I tend to see tobacco as a slightly different issue, since only in the last 30 or so years have we gotten the medical knowledge that smoking does in fact cause lung cancer. Also, cigarettes are addictive, and while that does not totally kill will power, it doesn't help it.

[Necromancer]

I voted no, but they should offer low fat or fat free dishes.

That sounds like. I'm going to a fast food shop, buy something to eat but I take a Cola Light, 'cause I'm on diet.

[Tempest]

As of late, more places have been offering lower fat and calorie items, like salads and grilled sandwhiches as opposed to fried, as well as nutrition facts on the food there.

[Killfile]

But there's more to this than "If you eat at a fast food restaurant you're going to get fat." I'm all for personal responsibility, but lets talk about some of the ugly truths that this industry doesn't like to talk about.

1 - Refined sugar is addictive. Yes, just like nicotine, refined sugar compounds have serious physiological and mental addictive properties. High Fructose Corn Syrup has been shown in numerous studies to be more addictive than cocaine. Don't think you're hooked? Go through your kitchen and see what has HFCS in it. Try to eliminate it from your diet. McDonalds and many other fast food companies have conducted studies as to what kinds and what concentrations of sweeteners should be included in baked goods to ensure the greatest number of repeat customers.

2 - Marketing to children gets them hooked early. Fast food is unhealthy, we all know it. We don’t' let cigarette companies market to children nor alcohol companies because we don't want to put parents in a situation where they are fighting a multi-billion dollar advertising agency for say over their children's health. Why is this different with fast food? Obesity is fast becoming the single most serious health problem for children. Isn't Ronald McDonald a pretty obvious attempt to create a pattern of behavior in children?

3 - Safety standards in fast food are non-existent. Thanks in large part to the easily bought US government, little or no effort is being made to guarantee the safety of foods sold at these restaurants. The average McDonalds hamburger contains beef from between 10 and 40 animals. There have been two confirmed cases of Mad Cow in the United States and still no beef recall. Animals known to have been exposed are still being introduced into the food supply.

We all like to chime in about "personal responsibility" but there's the issue of corporate responsibility to take into consideration here as well. These are predatory business practices. When you don't study for a test and fail it, that's the time for a lecture about personal responsibility. It's your own damn fault. What we're talking about here is the wholesale manipulation of the eating habits and patterns of a generation. This is a multibillion dollar corporation versus (at best) two working parents. We're selling Big Macs in our schools for Christ's sake. Pizza Hut is camped out in the elementary school cafeteria.

This goes beyond personal responsibility. This is a consequence of the corporate republic we live in. A law protecting this industry from punitive damages is just the latest expression of corporate power in a state long since divested of any reminant of representive democratic legitimacy.

[Tempest]

1 - Refined sugar is addictive. Yes, just like nicotine, refined sugar compounds have serious physiological and mental addictive properties. High Fructose Corn Syrup has been shown in numerous studies to be more addictive than cocaine. Don't think you're hooked? Go through your kitchen and see what has HFCS in it. Try to eliminate it from your diet. McDonalds and many other fast food companies have conducted studies as to what kinds and what concentrations of sweeteners should be included in baked goods to ensure the greatest number of repeat customers.

And just like nicotine, it is not impossible to quit. It may be tough, but it is very possible.

2 - Marketing to children gets them hooked early. Fast food is unhealthy, we all know it. We don’t' let cigarette companies market to children nor alcohol companies because we don't want to put parents in a situation where they are fighting a multi-billion dollar advertising agency for say over their children's health. Why is this different with fast food? Obesity is fast becoming the single most serious health problem for children. Isn't Ronald McDonald a pretty obvious attempt to create a pattern of behavior in children?

Can't argue with that, but just like with smoking and drugs, shouldn't parents take some role in talking to their kids about the dangers of fast food? I learned at a very early age why we didn't get McDonalds or other fast food for dinner more than maybe once every few weeks.

3 - Safety standards in fast food are non-existent. Thanks in large part to the easily bought US government, little or no effort is being made to guarantee the safety of foods sold at these restaurants. The average McDonalds hamburger contains beef from between 10 and 40 animals. There have been two confirmed cases of Mad Cow in the United States and still no beef recall. Animals known to have been exposed are still being introduced into the food supply.

The bill still allows people to sue due to contamination of food, the only thing that would be stopped is a lawsuit over obesity claims.

[Wandering_Mystic]

Tempest, it's a lot more complicated than even how Killfile put it. If things would be so simple, don't you think that obesity wouldn't be a problem for so many?

There are supposed to be a lot more overweight people in the U.S. than in most other countries in the world. But it's not really the wealthier people who generally have the problem, but those lacking in resources (financial, emotional, etc).
Will power does not come easily, and traumatic or intensely stressful situations (like struggling to survive, for example) do not provide the most ideal environments to cultivating one's will power. My friend's overweight mom had a lot more than weight issues on her mind while she struggled to provide for her family after her deadbeat husband left the family. They used to literally live in the ghetto, and when one son was on the run from the law, and another was doing all he could to get caught by it, little things like weight issues simply can't take any kind of priority. Unfortunately, the number of problems such a person has to face alone trump most good intentions on their part to create a better family. Incidentally she is black, and such a scenario is all too common, not just for blacks, but for any person struggling to make ends meet, which happen to be a lot of people in this country.

The fact is that people's weaknesses are constantly taken advantage of, no matter who you are, and the bigger the force behind such a parasitic action, the bigger the danger is for more people to get stuck in a vicious cycle, where one is blinded by their burdens, and in their blindness only get piled with more burdens.

[ucrzymofo87]

I think I've solved the problem:

DON'T EAT FAST FOOD AT ALL

as a personal trainer, we learned all the shit they put in their food. even with salads, they soak their lettuse in cholrine to keep it fresh, that is what gives it the crisp texture. so, don't eat there!

the best thing to do is to worn people of the high fat in the food and tell them not to eat there

[Eldo]

As much as I love to see McDonalds go down in flames, I don't think they should be liable for making people fat. I can understand why people eat fast food despite all the negative points associated with it, mainly for convenienice purposes and you don't exactly care what you're eating when you're hungry. But when your diet consists a large percentage of fast food, and when you've done zero exercise, I don't see why the fast food chains are responsible for each and every obesity cases. Go on the Fattest Loser or something.

[Devil_Dante]

Who the hell eats fast-food? It tastes like shit IMO.

[Femto]

For the longest of times I thought this thread was called Cheeseburger Pill.

PS: When you only get a 30 minute break for lunch and don't have a mommy to cook you meals, fast food is the only way to go.

[Devil_Dante]

For the longest of times I thought this thread was called Cheeseburger Pill.

PS: When you only get a 30 minute break for lunch and don't have a mommy to cook you meals, fast food is the only way to go.

Buy a baguette, some chicken-curry, and start making your own food, doesnt take to much time, and you can leave your mommy alone .

[Femto]

Well, you're from Belguim (Frapper ownz) so I'm sure it's different over there than how it is over here.

The reason why fast foods prosper in the US is because they're convenient. You go into any fast food chain that is located in every two blocks, place your order and in 5 minutes you'll be eating your meal. It helps in a fast paced city like New York, where a lot of people spend hours just on commuting. As I said, a 30 minute lunch break doesn't give you ample time to walk too far or to wait for an order at a healthier restaurant, it's just enough to walk 5 minutes to the fast food place, order in 5 minutes, eat in 15 and leave just in time to get back to work.

I've only worked full time jobs here and there for at least 3 years now mind you, but it's only taken me a summer in my current job to realize these things. Everything is timed when you live here (at least in NY), you know how much you can spend in the shower, how long you can snooze that alarm clock and how late you can catch that train. Miss any of those things and you'll be late, simple as that.

I used to work in England too in comparison, and things weren't like this over there. It's a different experience and a different way of living. The last thing you want to do when you get home here, is worry about what you're going to eat the next day, or that very same day for that matter. Just order some chinese, pay the bill and don't worry about wasting time cooking or washing dishes.

As I said, it's convenient to this lifestyle and that's why it works. I know I'll regret it many years down the road, but I'm expecting things to improve once I'm not studying full time + handling a part time, sometimes full time job. I can't remember the last time I ate a decent meal, but I don't complain because it gives me extra time to handle other stuff.

[Starnum]

Yeah, that's the same reason I eat Fast Food, it's convenient. It really does seem like there's a place at least every two blocks, if not more.

[Necromancer]

I enjoy cooking myself and I really don't like fast food.
If I'm hungry I'll do it myself.

[Killfile]

Human beings have fundamental physiological responces to certain things. We're geneticly programed to like certain things - high energy density foods, social accecptance, and sex being the major ones. We also like certian drugs, but mostly because they manipulate the brain into producing the chemicals that tell us we're happy/safe/content/etc.

It is largely unreasonable to expect people to fight against these physiological urges. It is doubly unreasonable to expect children to do it.

This is why we have specific legislation that prevents certain goods and services from being sold to children. It is fundamentally unfair to allow a billion dollar advertising machine to exploit a child's desire for social accecptance in order to get them hooked on tobacco products. If tobacco companies were using Fred Flintstone and Mickey Mouse to push their products would anyone have any problem suing them into financial oblivion for preying on children?

News Flash: They did it

We know that there are similar addictive properties associated with many of the additives in fast food. We know that these foods are unhealthy, and lead to health risks in much the same way that cigarettes do. We know that though the use of characters like Ronald McDonald and marketing gimicks like the Burger King Kids Club and McDonald's Happy Meals that fast food franchises are marketing to children.

Should parents take responsibility for what their kids eat? Up to a point - yes. But parents shouldn't let their kids smoke cigarettes either. These compaines are marketing to children because they know that their target audiance is easily manipulated and that the behivior patterns formed at an early age will persist throughout adulthood.

In short, they're actively subverting the attempts of mother, fathers, teachers, and health professionals to make a buck - and selling out our children's health to do so.

Someone in marketing made that decision. Where's his personal responsibilty?

[ucrzymofo87]

It is largely unreasonable to expect people to fight against these physiological urges.

it's called self-control, abstinance, and will power. people who claim to have no self-control should not blame others, i.e. the fast food companies, for their problems of obesity.

[Killfile]

it's called self-control, abstinence, and will power.....

So you solution is to be priest who eats grape nuts? Right.

Look, I'm not saying that people should not exercise self control here, but there is a certain level of corporate (as well as personal) responsibility. McDonalds and other fast food restaurants advertise a lot of products as being healthy -- salads, fruit and yogurt deserts, baked potatoes (Wendy's), etc. Advertising campaigns like that are misleading and an outright lie.

I don't think anyone would assume a Double Quarter Pounder is good for their heart, but when you pretend something is a well balanced meal that isn't, when you advertise that food to kids who really don't understand the difference, and when you do so without regard or interest for the health of your customers -- yea -- I think there's a case to be made for a lawsuit there.

I definitely don’t' think it is the Congresses legal role to be deciding what can and can't be settled in a civil lawsuit. The Neo-Cons spend a lot of time yapping about activist judges, but they've got an activist congress right now that's running ripshod over the checks and balances of the Constitution and, because it favors their ideological objectives of a larger corporate role in government, they don't give a crap.

It's wrong, it's hypocritical, and it's just plain irresponsible governance.

[isse-pisse-päron-pung]

microwaved food for the win xD!.

[ucrzymofo87]

I definitely don’t' think it is the Congresses legal role to be deciding what can and can't be settled in a civil lawsuit.

It actually IS the role of the Congress to decide what can and cannot be litigated. Article III of the Constiution states that Congress has the right to impose regulations on the Courts.

The Neo-Cons spend a lot of time yapping about activist judges, but they've got an activist congress right now that's running ripshod over the checks and balances of the Constitution and, because it favors their ideological objectives of a larger corporate role in government, they don't give a crap.

The Congress is supposed to be active. Hamilton wrote in the Federalist Papers that Congress is supoosed to be the most active branch of government.

As far as Congress violating the Constitution, that is a typical rant from the playbook of the minority party in power (be it Republican or Democrat).

I also find it amazing that you can spin people who become obese from fast food into a Neo-Con conspiracy to have McDonald's run the country. It's actually very entertaining

[Wandering_Mystic]

I also find it amazing that you can spin people who become obese from fast food into a Neo-Con conspiracy to have McDonald's run the country. It's actually very entertaining

When did he ever say anything about a conspiracy? Or anything about McDonalds running the country? Who is spinning what here?