Living Off the Fat of the Land
By Robert Warne - July 26, 2002A finger licking class action suit was filed in Bronx Supreme Court July 24.
Caesar Barber, 56, blames McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King and Kentucky Fried Chicken for his obesity and serious health problems. He is seeking undetermined compensatory damages.
Barber said that he had been eating fast food since the ’50s because it was cheap and efficient. He claims that he didn’t find out how bad fast food was until 1999.
He told Newsday that, “They said ‘100 percent beef.’ I thought that meant it was good for you.”
The Center for Consumer Freedom didn’t waste time to comment on the claim. The organization released a statement that said, “Fresh off of their tobacco settlements, trial lawyers are sharpening their knives once again. This time they are eyeing a nationwide ambulance chase against the restaurant industry in response to hysteria over the nation's expanding waistline.”
But the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) sees it differently and applauded the lawsuit.
“This is no doubt just the first of many lawsuits holding the food industry at least partially to blame for America's diet-related epidemics,” says PCRM president and nutrition researcher Neal D. Barnard, M.D.
“Decades of scientific evidence show that the cholesterol and saturated fat in beef, chicken, pork, and dairy products dramatically increase the risk of colon cancer, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, obesity, and other diseases,” he stated.
So if there’s been decades of scientific evidence to backup the problems associated with beef, how can a person claim ignorance to such matters?
Barber’s lawyer, Samuel Hirsch, blames the restaurants for not listing the ingredients on their menus. He told the Associated Press, “There is direct deception when someone omits telling people food digested is detrimental to their health,” Hirsch said.
But the fast food chains named in the suit have been providing nutritional information, including calorie and fat content, of their meals for many years.
Steven Anderson, chief executive and president of the National Restaurant Association, called Barber’s claim “senseless and baseless.”
Can you imagine if this case goes beyond the fryer and Barber has it his way in court, like he has for so many years at Burger King? If the court serves up that order then the settlement would definitely redefine the term “Happy Meal.” | 
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