Obesity in the Headlines

March 11, 2004 - Appleton Post-Crescent

Editorial: Responsible eating bill presumes irresponsibility

The state Legislature wants you to hold yourself accountable for your own actions, and to make sure, it proposes to take away your right to sue restaurants for making you fat.

Ironically, this bill, which presumes hordes of Wisconsinites are so irresponsible they would blame restaurants for their obesity, and try to collect in court, is called the Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Bill.

Its objective is to put the kibosh on lawsuits like the one some teenagers filed in 2002 against McDonalds, blaming the Golden Arches for their obesity and related health problems. At the time, attorney John Banzhaf III, a pioneer in the legal charge against big tobacco, predicted the same kind of attack on the Big Mac he helped lead against Philip Morris.

But the teenagers' suit got laughed out of court, and Banzhaf's prediction hasn't come true. Despite its vast appetite for litigation, the American public choked on that one.

Earlier this year, members of the Legislature demanded to know why the governor refuses to trust law-abiding citizens with concealed weapons. In passing the Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Bill, many of these same lawmakers tell us they trust us to know when to point and fire, but not when to use the court system.

Like the concealed carry law, the governor should veto this bill, and trust the people of Wisconsin and their courts.