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McDonald’s
blamed for obesity
Last Wednesday a lawsuit was argued in New
York City’s U.S. Courthouse suing McDonald’s
for contributing to the obesity of Americans.
The
class action complaint stated that about
300,000 deaths a year in the United States
occur that are associated with obesity.
The case argues that McDonald’s is a leading
factor responsible for children becoming
obese and suffering health problems related
to their weight because the company has
failed to provide warnings about eating
too much fast food.
As
ridiculous as this lawsuit is, it so adequately
displays the mentality of Americans in this
day and age. “Let’s just blame our problems
on someone else, and sue them.”
It
simply is not McDonalds’ responsibility
to monitor what people eat. It is parents
who should be responsible for teaching their
children proper eating habits. Just because
parents are not doing their job does not
mean that restaurants and other business
in the food industry are responsible for
picking up the slack.
Common
sense tells us that an extreme amount of
anything is usually unhealthy. Let’s use
marshmallows as an example. If someone just
ate marshmallows day and night for an extended
period of time his or her health would probably
suffer as well, but the thought of the person
suing the marshmallow company is ludicrous.
The same can be said about the lawsuit blaming
McDonald’s for obesity.
So
how do we curb obesity among children? Why
not teach better health and nutrition classes
in schools? Or offer more free parenting
classes that include nutrition tips. There
are many positive steps that can be taken
to curb the problem. Suing McDonald’s is
not one of them.
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