Take a look at this article:

http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/02/21/ob...uit/index.html

Basically, two (very) overweight girls are leading a lawsuit against McDonalds saying they use "deceptive practices in the advertising, processing and sale of foods" (er... DUH! who doesn't know this?). What gets me most is the quote by the girls' father who says they ate McDonalds all the time and "I always believed McDonald's was healthy for my children."

I wonder what your reactions are to this? Personally, I think the concept of holding special interest groups responsible for misleading the public is a great idea... but to me, this just smacks of not wanting to take responsibility for your own choices and outright stupidity.

I'd LOVE to see lawsuits against the American Dairy Council, the Beef Association, the American Medical Assocation and a host of other special interest groups who are not above lying to you & confusing the scientific facts so consumers really are unaware of certain dangers. But c'mon... suing McDonalds because you're fat & then claiming you didn't know their food was bad for you when consumed everyday? I just don't like it.

personally, I think the entire 'lets sue the *******s!" mentality is wrong. The people only want cash...they are not concerned with their health or who is at fault. And besides, did they just wake up one day and find out they were over weight??? lets place the fault where it goes, smack between the eyes of the parents that allowed this.

saying all that however, I would like to have seen the fast food industry come clean with the nutrition info a lot sooner...dang, who would have thought a taco salad from taco bell has 900 cal.

I agree with ginya though I now have this image of someone waking up, "OMG I am so fat. How did that happen? I was eating a Big Mac everyday" LOL! These lawsuits just tax our overburdend legal system even more. BUT I think restraunts should have to post nutrional information just like the foods in the supermarket then I could make the best choices for me and my family.

Miss Chris

They are nuts! People make their own choices and should inform themselves. There is a lot of crap out there and people are eating it!

On the other hand, if we can prove that fat is addictive, we can sue them like we can the tobacco companies.

I think it is soooo ridiculous!

Obviously McD doesn't have large disclaimers hanging inside (but they probably will after this) letting people know the food is bad, but if people really care what is in the food they could ask for the info which McD has on hand and has had availible since the 1980's. OR nowadays just look it all up ONLINE! Give me a break, these people simply want money.

Sandi

I agree with all of you. And you know, no one was forcing those girls to go eat at McD's or anything- they went in of their own free will and ordered stuff of their own free will. I don't blame all the stores where I bought candy all these years - all those Tobler bars! I used to eat one A DAY when I was in my early 20s. And I don't blame all the donut shops for all the Dutchies and muffins and....oh, we were talking about McDonald's. Yeah...I was always a sugar/carb girl myself!

Lidian

Okay, glad to know I'm not the only one who thinks this is ridiculous, lol.

Say... anyone wanna join me in a lawsuit against Pizza Hut & Dominos for making me gain all that weight in college? We can throw Guinness beer in that lawsuit, too.

I was just going to ask if we could get up a lawsuit against the makers of Corona beer.

I have a problem with the whole litigeous attitude. I knew it was going to be an open floodgate when the government allowed the tobacco companies to be sued. I think they should have been sued on the basis that they put chemicals in the cigarettes to make them more addictive but nothing else. People have been aware for 40+ years now that smoking is dangerous and bad for the health. Same as with gun manufacturers, I have heard people want to sue them when someone is shot and killed, and now they have started with restaurants, and the liquor industry. It's just a slippery slope, and now no one feels the need to take responsibility for their own actions. Don't get me wrong I'm hardly ever on the side of the big businesses, I'm a far left Democrat, and I did write a big rant on commercial sending mixed messages but come on it's no better to put all of the blame for our problems on someone else either. I resent the fact that there are a group of people in a few cities who make me feel like a whale if I don't fit into a size 2, and I don't like the mixed messages that commercials send us, but should we sue? Who would benefit? Would it change the way people eat, or think about nutrition? I highly doubt it. If you want to keep kids from getting fat then don't take them to McDonalds everyday for god's sake! Don't let them veg in front of the TV, or computer all day! How hard is that to figure out? Ok, sorry...end of rant. Not back a day and I'm starting. LOL!

I agree that the whole thing is stupid, but unfortunately far too indicative of our current society's "I'm a victim" mentality, and all of our bad choices and behavior are somebody else's fault. We all have to take some personal responsibility in life, and if I sued every company which has "tempted" me to eat their bad stuff... or other bad behaviors... LOL I would be RICH!!!

Sue

Can I sue soda pop and candy bars too? This is sooooo silly. I don't approve of cigarette suing either. We all know it is bad for everyone! It is wrong to add additives, and that should be outlawed but come on. There is so much worse stuff going on in this world!

Yeah, I think the only big tobacco lawsuits I agreed with were the very first ones that were based on the FACT that tobacco companies outright lied to consumers for years about the dangerousness (is that a word? lol) of their product. ****, doctors used to "prescribe" cigarettes to pregnant women to help them keep their weight down. There were advertisements in the American Medical Association journal, as well as other medical publications - this, when the tobacco industry not only knew they were putting addictive nicotine into their cigarettes (and lied about it) - but they had scientific irrefutable studies waaaay back that smoking was incredibly harmful to the human body - yet they lied about that, too.

I'm glad they lost a crap-load of money, however, I'd think the money won should've gone towards the medical bills of those who got sick and into anti-smoking studies & campaigns. I don't believe in making people millionaires because of stuff like this - many people work damn hard (look at all of US!) to give up harmful addictions - and I agree with Dance4joy on this one, these lawsuits only feed that "I'm a victim, I don't have to take responsibility for the crap I do myself & the environment and if something bad happens because of my stupid choices, I'll just sue and make millions" mentality.

*Sigh*

Wait a minute, fast food isn't good for you. So that's what I am doing wrong.

My favorite was one of the first guys suing McDs said that because they were all beef hamburgers, he thought that meant they were good for him.

The whole thing is silly. If the people suing paid any attention to anything, we have known that fast food isn't exactly good for you. Or you can eat at McDs, but you can't get the Big Mac, you get a salad.

Okay, you would have to be living under a rock not to know that fast food is bad for you. Doctors, nutritionists and the media have been telling the North American public this for years.

Guess these people have never read the paper or magazines or listened to the radio or watched tv or been to see a doctor in their whole entire life What a bunch of BS these lawsuits are! In my opinion these people don't want to accept responsibility for themselves and their actions and are trying to make some easy money for themselves not to mention that their lawyers are unscrupulous and just out to make money.

And who on earth thought that smoking wasn't a bad thing??? We were getting taught this in grade school by the time we were 10!

What next? Maybe we could launch a class action suit against the drug lords for failing to issue a warning that drugs were harmful to your health before they sold them to people? Guess we'd actually have to find them first