'Cheeseburger bill' puts bite on lawsuits

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday that would block lawsuits by people who blame fast-food chains for their obesity.

The "cheeseburger bill," as it has been dubbed in Congress, stems from class-action litigation that accused McDonald's of causing obesity in children.

The legislation's backers say matters of personal responsibility don't belong in the courts.

"As one judge put it, if a person knows or should know that eating copious orders of super-sized McDonald's products is unhealthy and could result in weight gain, it is not the place of the law to protect them from their own excesses," said Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisconsin, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

The bill seeks to thwart class-action obesity lawsuits against food manufacturers and restaurants.

In a lawsuit filed in 2002, two Bronx teenagers accused McDonald's of making them fat by serving them highly processed food that affected their health. A judge tossed out the case a year later, but an appeals court reinstated part of the suit earlier this year, according to published reports.

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.

Citing statistics that obesity among children has doubled in the past three decades, with one in three children currently overweight, some committee members argued that fast-food companies need to be held accountable for their harmful products.

"Congress has allowed the need of big corporations before the need of our children," said Rep. Bob Filner, D-California.

The House bill passed 307-119, but it faces an uncertain future in the Senate. A similar bill passed the House during the last Congress, but the Senate never acted on it.

About 20 states have passed similar legislation, according to reports.



-------------------------------------


I lack the ability to understand why anyone would oppose this, unless there are provisions in the bill not mentioned in the story. You eat sh*t food, you health goes to sh*t.

I can't wait for the Democratic-sponsored plaintiff's bar to bitch about this one . . .

It's unfortunate that a bill like this is necessary. But in our lawsuit happy country, people can sue for anything they damn well please. They may not win, but sometimes the cost of the damage they do simply by litigating is enough.

Self-control has been lost in our over indulgent country. Give me more, faster and cheaper. And then when I don't know when and how to stop, I'll sue you for giving me what I wanted.

I understand that sometimes both parents work and making a homecooked meal isn't always plausible. Fine. My parents used to order a pizza or pick up McDonald's on a hecic night too. But to eat McDonald's 2 or 3 times a week? Sometimes more?! Not to mention school lunches aren't always the healthiest laternatives... If you don't have time to cook, buy some cold cuts and bread for God's sake! Eat cereal! Get cans of soup and maked grilled cheese. At least you know what's going into your body!

Jim Sensenbrenner is a very fat man.

it's about time

I still stand by my belief that people should be allowed to sue tobacco, junk food, and alcohol companies, but the plaintiffs don't get a dime more than direct healthcare costs. All the other money they win is used to pay for healthcare of cancerous, fat, and/or drunk people, so there isn't a drain on MY health insurance company.

I was in McDonald's yesterday and they had a sign up that said, "Our food is best enjoyed in moderation. Please purchase the smallest sandwich and fries for which you are hungry. It is unwise and detrimental to your health to consume more food than your body needs. We encourage our patrons to eat to live and not live to eat."

I'm just kidding, they had a big picture of this ... on sale cheap!

That's a heartattack wrapped in wax paper if I've ever seen one.

Gotta say for once I agree. It's up to the individual to make sure that they don't eat too much.

Do we have no sympathy for individuals (and there are millions) too weak or uneducated to see through a multi-billion dollar ad campaign specifically targetted at them and bombarding them at every corner? McDonald's spends an insane amount of their advertising budget on identifying who might not be as well educated in physical health and beating them on the head with ads for double quarter pounders.

I recon banning them from advertising is the right idea.

Sir,

Where may I purchase this tasty treat? My soul awaits your answer.

Best Wishes,
-BI

Here's the problem B:

This country is tradionally averse to any notion of government or corporate responsbility trumping personal responsibility. So even if people recognise that a system which has the effect of overworked, underpaid parents with little down time combined with cheap, highly accessible junk food is a recipe for obesity and poor health, it is still ultimately an individual's responsibility to eat right and watch his/her own health. Even if that's all this person has ever known throughout his life. Even if she's poorly educated and doesn't understand that fast food has negative nutritional value. Even if it is one day scientifically proven that fast food is addictive.

He's exactly right. The United States is based on the concept of freedom. You are free to take whatever risks you choose and reap what rewards come of those risks. In this case the risk is fast food, the reward is that you don't have to spend as much time cooking.

I choose to eat fast food about 3x per week. The risk is obesity. The reward is yummy french fries and McFlurries. I also choose not to watch tv except one night per week. The risk is that I don't know what happened on CSI:Saskatoon. The reward is that I have <13% body fat because I choose to spend that time exercising or masturbating to gay interracial cowboy porn from the 70's. See, it's all about freedom.

Some may say, it's just a junk food ban. Or it's just a smoking ban. Or a hand-gun ban. But it's just showing our "elected leaders" (read: Bu$h) that you are willing to accept less freedom. So.... if you choose to not eat fast food, just remember you were allowed to make that choice and you have no right to advocate for taking that choice from others.

Then what does poor, overworked people and no affordable food equals?

I'm not saying McDonald's should be sued (I'm not saying they shouldn't either), but I was just noticing a complete lack of concern that McDonald's goes out of it's way to stuff food into the mouths of naive individuals and then cries when it's demonized for that.

I wouldn't say they go out of their way to do it. It's not like you don't have to pay money for the food and it's not like people don't have any choice.

If you start eating nothing but McDonalds and start getting fat and can't put one and one together, you should just go play in traffic and save us all the misery of your stupidity.

I don't have a lot of patience for stupidity and I don't think people should be coddled, especially not with something that revolves around their own choice to do it (like eat nothing but fast food). If you haven't heard yet that eating a steady diet of nothing but fried food products is bad for you, I direct you again towards traffic.

I don't know what their advertising budget is, but I'm sure it's millions more than I'll ever see in my life. Why do you advertise? To make people buy your product. And now McDonald's wants to claim that they just give people what they want? They spent all that money to make them want McDonald's.

I refuse to look at it as poor McDonald's ... being attacked by people who just want to blame someone for their irresponsibility.

Oh, I'm not saying they're innocent--they're a corporation and as far as I know, every corporation is about making as much money possible with as small a cost possible--I'm just saying that you still have a choice, no matter how much advertising you're subjected to.

I find the McDonald's commercials to be incredibly annoying and just plain stupid. The "preppy-ghetto" approach is downright retarded. I just turn the commercials off. But that's me and I'm sure there are SOME people out there that like them. But those are just commercials. They aren't coming into our homes and holding us at gunpoint until that Big Mac and super-size fries are finished. ANd until they are, McDonalds cannot be blamed more than half for anyone getting obese from their food.

I can't tell you how many times I've been wasted at 3am I've seen infomercials for Jack LeLaine's (sp?) Juicer and have been like, "I. Must. Have. This." But it still comes down to self control in the face of a choice.