Posted on 02/03/2006 7:03:12 AM PST by ZGuy
GET READY for the next mass-tort crusade: protecting our kids from the ravages of Big Cola. According to reports, a group of lawyers is gearing up to file lawsuits that will seek to blame Coke, Pepsi and others for obesity, tooth decay and other childhood health ailments. An article in the Boston Globe Magazine has called it part of a "national legal movement to make soft drinks the next tobacco." Instead of tar and nicotine, we'll be hearing about corn sweeteners and caffeine; maybe Dr. Pepper can stand in as the new Joe Camel.
Ridiculous? More like inevitable. For some time, a noisy campaign has been underway to portray the food and beverage industry as the villain in the nation's ongoing battle with the waistline. Without the snack hucksters' machinations, it seems, we'd all eat raw bell peppers and be reed thin.
Backed by "progressive" foundations, nutrition advocates are demanding a national obesity policy aimed at changing our collective diet, by force of law if necessary — or quite possibly by force of litigation. As one advocate, Michael Jacobson of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, put it: "If someone is saying that a 64-ounce soda at 7-Eleven contributed to obesity, that person should have his day in court."
That brings us to Northeastern University law professor and associate dean Richard Daynard, point man in the forthcoming courtroom onslaught against fizzy drinks. Long quoted in the media as a cheerleader for tobacco lawsuits, Daynard has now set out to assemble a legal strike force to file obesity actions. He wants to duplicate the success of the tobacco campaign, whose strategies included invoking "the children" and launching scores of suits on novel legal theories in hopes that one would stick.
WALTER OLSON is senior fellow of the Manhattan Institute.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
This was before the dollar items, which are great, and you had to order a full size salad back then.
And thanks for your kind reply, I can actually order by number if I so choose.
If kids went out and ran and played like we did, they'd call out the National Guard...
Good point. When consumers decide that they don't want a product as much as they used to, or that they want something different, smart companies will adjust to meet that demand.
And, instead of having outrageously lucrative lawsuits, which mainly benefit money-grubbing lawyers and governments, or seeking to ban products and their advertisement, why don't those who say that their only concern is public health get out there and become evangelists for personal responsibility? An novel concept, I'll grant you, but the answer to all of the public heatlh problems, from obesity to STD's to you-name-it.
You may be right. I was quite a terror when I was a kid!
I'm being sarcastic...BUT ....I truly think we need to stop these attorneys.... Got any ideas?
It's readily available at the grocery stores here, and I buy it sometimes. I have noticed when I drink the soft drinks with corn syrup, the muscles in my legs hurt...the ones with sugar don't do that.
I'm sure someone more educated than me would say that there is no scientific basis for corn syrup causing leg pain, but if I drink two soft drinks with corn syrup in them in one day, my legs kill me, especially when I'm getting up from sitting.
When I drink the sugar ones-no pain.
Ridiculous stuff. But I would not miss hydrogenated-anything & high-fructose corn syrup if they were "discouraged." But no lawsuits are necessary.
I agree. Coke with real sugar is great, you can taste the difference.
Why do I have the urge to take a big gulp of pepsi and burp in these idiots faces? Can you get secondhand gas from someone burping in your face?
And the nanny state marches on... Gotta run, it's time for my morning smoke / Coke break!
Diet Coke is safe, you'll just have to pay more for it due to law suit. Maybe everything will have to be diet? We can all eat cardboard.
Hey, I limit the amount my boys drink and you should see the look on some of the other parents faces. It's like they can't comprehend that I regulate this.
Not one of her kids is overweight.
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