Wisconsin legislators are currently proposing legislation that would prohibit lawsuits against state food industries for people’s obesity problems.
While it is ridiculous that Wisconsin (or any state, for that matter) would have to pass such legislation, there is good reason behind it.
Take, for example, Caesar Barber. Barber, 56, a maintenance worker who weighs about 270 pounds and stands 5-foot-10, claims McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s and KFC are responsible for his poor health (including diabetes and two heart attacks) because they did not properly disclose the ingredients of their greasy, salty fare and the risks of eating too much. Barber, who used to eat at fast-food restaurants four or five times a week even after suffering a heart attack, filed a class-action lawsuit in the New York State Supreme Court in the Bronx on behalf of an unspecified number of other obese and ill New Yorkers who also feast on fast food.
“They never explained to me what I was eating,” Barber said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
Although a federal judge threw out a similar lawsuit in January which claimed that McDonald’s was responsible for obesity in children, many industry analysts and experts caution that these types of lawsuits could potentially become numerous.
“Our concern is that as these lawsuits get thrown out of the larger states and larger chains, there’s a potential they would be directed to smaller states and smaller chains,” Wisconsin Restaurant Association spokeswoman Sara Stinkski has said.
As the food industry prepares itself to defend against lawsuits claiming unhealthy food has led to obesity, the real question that these lawsuits bring forth is where exactly to draw the line between personal responsibility and society’s responsibility to protect individuals.
While it is certainly clear that America is dealing with an obesity epidemic, it has become strikingly unclear as to how much personal responsibility Americans should (and must) take for their own expanding waistlines.
According to an article in The New York Times, the number of extremely obese American adults — those who are at least 100 pounds overweight — has quadrupled since the 1980s to about 4 million. That works out to about 1 of every 50 adults.
Many Americans are quick to blame the fast-food industry’s advertising and marketing campaigns for the nation’s obesity problems, and it is true that the fast-food industry’s strategic communication campaigns have become powerful tools of persuasion. McDonald’s reportedly spent $500 million on the “We love to see you smile” ad campaign, which is just a small piece of the food industry’s $30 billion advertising budget. These figures dwarf those of such government agencies as the National Cancer Institute, whose “5-a-day” campaign spends about $1 million a year to promote eating five daily servings of fruits and vegetables.
But on what level must individuals stop pointing fingers at the fast-food industry and start taking responsibility for their own weight problems? While no one is denying that people like Barber or the 400-pound teenager who was a part of the McDonald’s lawsuit are suffering from the ill effects of their obesity, there are clearly factors other than the restaurant industry that play a role in obesity. Genetics, inactivity, television watching and cultural differences, to name a few, all contribute to obesity levels.
And, of course, we must not forget that personal freedom plays a role.
As Lisa Rickard, president of the United States Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, said in an interview with United Press International, “Fortunately or unfortunately, Americans’ freedom includes the freedom to overeat. Lawsuits against fast food firms will not change that.”
A study released in July even shows that consumers themselves, not the fast-food industry, are the primary cause of America’s obesity epidemic. Todd Buchholz conducted a report for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce titled “Burgers, Fries and Lawyers: The Beef Behind Obesity Lawsuits,” which disproves the allegations that fast-food companies “duped” their patrons into buying unhealthy products because they did not know any better.
In the report, Buchholz said that if food companies truly deceived or neglected consumers, researchers would find obesity levels growing among poorly educated people who cannot read or understand nutrition labels. Instead, the study shows that the rise in obesity in the last 20 years has actually been among college-educated people.
In other words, the study concluded that consumers are educated enough to recognize unhealthy food and to realize that eating large amounts of greasy, fatty food will eventually lead to obesity.
If Americans are intelligent enough to distinguish unhealthy food from healthy food, then they must start taking responsibility for their own weight problems. These obesity lawsuits against restaurants and fast-food chains are simply a pathetic way for obese individuals to place the blame for their health problems on someone else. While restaurants sell the food, they certainly do not force individuals to bring the hamburgers and French fries to their lips. It is sad that personal responsibility has taken such a backseat to the blame-game of lawsuits.
Of course, that brings us back to precisely why Wisconsin legislators feel it is necessary to pass legislation protecting eateries from these types of lawsuits. Ridiculous as it may seem, this legislation could save the state time and money by avoiding frivolous lawsuits.
And it could force the guy with the fork in his hand to take a little personal responsibility.
Kari Bellingham ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in journalism.
