Obesity in the Headlines

November 20, 2003 - USA Today

Calorie-laden litigation

To hear some health groups, legislators and lawyers talk, customers who order a bacon-double cheeseburger, fries and a shake are unaware that their waistlines might grow. They're just dupes of misleading marketing by chain restaurants trying to sell more junk food to an unsuspecting public.

Obesity is at epidemic levels - 65% of Americans are overweight - and some advocates want the government and courts to take action. On Thursday, officials with the Food and Drug Administration met to consider whether misleading food labels play a role in the public's weight problems. It's one part of a broad government effort to scrutinize school lunch menus, verify the claims of popular diets and consider requiring nutrition information about restaurant food.

While providing consumers with more honest information about the foods they eat is a worthy goal, such efforts can go too far. In the name of protecting health, the "eat your peas and carrots" crowd is paving the way for a buffet of litigation that would allow money-hungry attorneys employing novel legal theories to go after Big Food, the plumpest target since Big Tobacco. Last January, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit against McDonald's in which teenagers claimed that fast food made them fat. But other claims already are piling up in courts.

The stakes are high. The health costs related to obesity are $117 billion a year, according to a surgeon general's report. "Obviously, McDonald's isn't responsible for the entire obesity epidemic," says George Washington University law professor John Banzhaf. "But let's say it's 5% responsible. Five percent of $117 billion is a lot of money."

Ironically, food companies now are more responsive to consumers than ever. Just this week, McDonald's trimmed the fat and calories from its Chicken McNuggets.

Nutritional information is available at large restaurant chains for the asking and is prominently displayed on their Web sites. Eateries offer more diet and low-fat meals because health-conscious customers want them, and not because of legal mandates.

Fraudulent health claims should be investigated aggressively. But suggesting consumers wouldn't overeat if only they'd known the fat content isn't credible.Americans like to supersize it. The issue isn't just a lack of information but a lack of will to eat right and exercise regularly. Those are sensible aims, but litigation and nanny-type regulation won't help us achieve them.