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September 10,
2002
McDonald's marketing cited for teens' obesity
By
Ellen Sorokin THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Three teenagers in New York City
have filed a class-action lawsuit against McDonald's Corp., saying
the fast food chain's food caused them to gain as much as 200 pounds
and develop serious health problems including heart disease and
diabetes.
The
teenagers, whose ages range between 13 and 19, say in court papers
that McDonald's inaccurately posted nutritional information and
deceptively advertised its products. They also say the restaurant
chain used marketing practices such as toy and value meal promotions
to entice its patrons to eat the
food. "We feel that the advertising
strategies [of quick-service chains] target young children," said
Samuel Hirsch, the attorney representing the teenagers. "Toy
promotions and Happy Meals are a lethal
combination." Mr. Hirsch said his
clients ate at McDonald's almost every day for at least five years.
One teenager, who is 5-foot-9-inches tall, now weighs 270 pounds;
another, who is 5-foot-3-inches tall, now weighs 200.
The parents of the teenagers,
either unemployed or on disability, filed the lawsuit on behalf of
their children. The lawsuit seeks undetermined compensatory
damages. McDonald's officials
yesterday the lawsuit and others like it make "no
sense." "This is nothing more than
a frivolous lawsuit," company spokesman Walt Riker said in a written
statement. "Its claims are ridiculous. Common sense tells you that
it makes no sense. McDonald's serves quality food. Our menu features
choice and variety with lots of options for
consumers. "Meanwhile, McDonald's
will continue to do what we've been doing for 30 years: providing
industry-leading nutrition information to customers about our menu
offerings so that they can make informed choices," the statement
reads. McDonald's announced last
week it would introduce a new cooking oil that has lower levels of
trans-fatty acids, which have been linked to raising "bad"
cholesterol levels. The latest
lawsuit, filed in the New York Supreme Court, comes a month after a
New York City man, who has been eating fast food since the 1950s,
sued the country's four leading fast-food chains, also blaming the
restaurants' fatty fare for his health
problems. In July, Caesar Barber,
56, filed a suit � also with the Supreme Court of New York � against
McDonald's, Burger King Corp., KFC Corp. and Wendy's International,
blaming the chains for making him and others overweight and raising
his risk of illness related to being overweight. Mr. Barber also is
being represented by Mr. Hirsch. In
his case, Mr. Barber, a 5-foot-10-inch, 272-pound maintenance
worker, said he had heart attacks in 1996 and 1999, and has
diabetes, high blood pressure and high
cholesterol. So far, the two cases
are based on studies documenting obesity and related illnesses. The
latest lawsuit charges that McDonald's franchises are negligently
selling products "that are high in fat, salt, sugar and cholesterol
content which numerous studies have shown cause obesity, diabetes,
coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, strokes, elevated
cholesterol intake, related cancers, and/or other detrimental and
adverse health effects and/or
diseases." The lawsuit drew
criticism from consumer groups and plaudits from medical groups,
which said yesterday such cases alert people about the health risks
of consuming fast food. "We
advocate for people to take control over their diets, but these
lawsuits keep fast food in the news and point to the real issues
that fast food can cause," said Brie Turner-McGrievy, a clinical
research coordinator with the Washington-based Physicians Committee
for Responsible Medicine, a nonprofit organization that promotes
preventive medicine. Others
disagree. "The Caesar Barber case
was clearly a legal belly flop in the eyes of the public," said Mike
Burita, a spokesman for the Center for Consumer Freedom in
Washington. "The trial lawyers are
back at the drawing board, now using kids as their new pawns to try
to get their multimillion-dollar payday in court. This has
everything to do with fattening attorney wallets and nothing to do
with slimming down Americans."
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