George Washington University law professor John Banzhaf, who orchestrated the legal groundswell against Big Tobacco, has his sights set on another target now: fast-food companies.
According to an article in USAToday.com, Banzhaf will deliver letters tomorrow to the heads of several fast-food chains, demanding that they post warning notices in their restaurants alerting the public to fast food's "addictive" constitution. He characterized the move as a "first step" towards filing a lawsuit.
It's a shift in the legal fight against fast food, and one that attempts to tie companies like McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) and Wendy's (NYSE: WEN) to tobacco giants like Altria (NYSE: MO). Ever since the U.S. Surgeon General said in December 2001 that public health costs stemming from obesity are reaching $117 billion a year (smoking-related costs run about $140 billion annually), trial lawyers have been sniffing around for a good reason to hold fast-food restaurants accountable for the country's runaway obesity.
Trouble was, most rational folks believed that Americans can make choices. We can choose to stuff ourselves with Big Macs. We can choose to not eat leafy veggies and instead chow down on a steady diet of beef, grease, and fat. We can choose to ruin our health, and our waistlines. We have the gift of free will, and if it's your will to be fat, then so be it.
Right? No, not at all -- if you're a lawyer salivating for the next big target after tobacco companies, that is. Someone needs to be blamed, and there's no such thing as personal responsibility. Several lawsuits against McDonald's have been brought in an attempt to hold the business accountable for its hefty patrons and, so far, not much has come from them.
Still missing was the "addiction" factor. People could claim that they were duped into smoking for years and years because the products were addictive, and they didn't know they were. With fast food, the claim's been sketchier. Namely, obese people kept eating food that was horrible for them because they didn't realize that cheeseburgers and milkshakes are laden with fat. (Yeah, right.)
Until now, there hasn't been an addiction claim attached to the fast-food companies. It's a subtle distinction, but an important one. And legally, if lawyers can somehow prove that fast food is addictive, the suits become strikingly similar to the tobacco litigation.
However, the scientific studies that Banzhaf and others point to show that foods high in fat and sugar are addictive. They don't show that places like McDonald's are specifically adding chemicals to food to make them addictive. All high fat and high sugar foods, be they cooked slowly in a home kitchen or served up quick from a griddle, may be addictive. Is this really news to anyone? Are we surprised to hear this?
For the lawyers, it doesn't seem to matter. Any hint that foods that happen to be sold in places like Wendy's and McDonald's can have an "addictive" nature is enough to crow about.
The whole mess is ridiculous enough to make me crave a big, juicy burger, with a side of fries.
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