[2237] in Vegetarian_Support_Group
McD's in France
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Laura Redi)
Thu Oct 31 11:17:46 2002
Message-ID: <3DC157A4.9691F5E6@mit.edu>
Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2002 11:17:40 -0500
From: Laura Redi <redi@MIT.EDU>
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: veg@mit.edu
Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
boundary="------------5DFD5A961C10BCD4AD037B5B"
This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
--------------5DFD5A961C10BCD4AD037B5B
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Passing this along...
> Limit the Big Macs, company's ad warns
> Marian Burros The New York Times
> Thursday, October 31, 2002
>
> WASHINGTON It isn't often that a food company tells its customers that
> it should eat less of its food. But that is what McDonald's appears to
> have done in France.
>
> In an "advertorial" about obesity in children that appeared in the
> magazine Femme Actuelle in May, McDonald's France said the number of
> visits to its outlets should be limited. Forbidding children from
> eating fast food would be counterproductive, it said. "However, there
> is no reason to eat excessive amounts of junk food, nor go more than
> once a week to McDonald's."
>
> A spokesman for McDonald's in the United States said the company did
> not agree with the views expressed in the advertorial.
>
> "This is the opinion of one consultant in France," the company said in
> a statement. "We do not share this view at all."
>
> The company declined to say how a consultant was able to place the
> views in a French publication without the approval of company
> executives.
>
> John Banzhaf 3d, a professor of law at George Washington University
> who pioneered lawsuits against the tobacco industry and has now
> focused on the fast-food industry, said, "It is one thing for a health
> advocate like me to call for something like this, but when someone in
> industry calls for what we are saying, that makes it sound very
> reasonable."
>
> McDonald's has had an uneasy relationship with the French recently
> because of mad cow disease and the efforts of one French citizen, Jose
> Bove, to protect French culture from foreign influences. Bove became a
> folk hero in 1999 when he led a group of French farmers to ransack a
> McDonald's in the town of Millau. Bove was jailed for two months for
> the action.
>
> Along with other fast food companies, the relationship of McDonald's
> with the American public has also come under some strain. Nutrition
> advocacy groups have been trying for years to attribute obesity to the
> fast food industry, without much success.
>
> But over the last year, lawsuits have begun to replace hectoring. The
> suits contend that fast food companies should warn customers that
> their products are very high in fat and calories and that frequent
> consumption can cause obesity.
>
> The suits are similar to those filed against tobacco companies.
>
> The advertorial in the French magazine "shows that health warnings
> about the dangers of eating out often at fast food restaurants are not
> only appropriate but may be necessary to avoid liability if children
> become obese as a result of overindulgence," Banzhaf said.
>
> The food industry says such suits are frivolous, and the National
> Restaurant Association and the Grocery Manufacturers of America have
> asked Congress for protection against them.
>
> McDonald's also described as frivolous a lawsuit that Banzhaf's law
> students filed against the company for not disclosing that it used
> beef tallow in making its fries. But the company paid $12.5 million in
> March to settle the case, he said.
>
> Even before the lawsuits, McDonald's, Coca-Cola and several other
> companies began a campaign aimed at childhood obesity to deflect
> mounting criticism of their products. In addition, McDonald's
> announced last month that it was switching the fat in which it cooks
> its fries to one that contains fewer trans fatty acids, which raise
> cholesterol levels.
>
> In the early 1990s, when nutrition labeling became mandatory in the
> United States, the fast food industry succeeded in exempting itself
> from the requirement. But because of increased pressure, it now says
> that nutrition information is readily available in all of its outlets,
> although some critics contend that the information is difficult to
> find.
>
> Banzhaf said that the majority of people would probably say that fat
> people have no right to sue fast food companies. But he added "that
> that is exactly what they said when we said smokers could sue tobacco
> companies, and we have won the suits and we have been sustained on
> intermediate appeals."
>
> "When you win on the trial level and win on appellate level," he
> added, "they are no longer frivolous suits."
>
> Banzhaf has organized a group of health experts and lawyers who worked
> on the tobacco cases to expand the lawsuits.
>
> "We want to combine the altruistic motives and profit motives of
> lawyers and use them against obesity," he said.
> --------
>
> eof;
> .
--------------5DFD5A961C10BCD4AD037B5B
Content-Type: message/rfc822
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Disposition: inline
Return-Path: <rdshydur@MIT.EDU>
Received: from central-city-carrier-station.mit.edu by po10.mit.edu (8.9.2/4.7) id IAA29418; Thu, 31 Oct 2002 08:40:42 -0500 (EST)
Received: from manawatu-mail-centre.mit.edu (MANAWATU-MAIL-CENTRE.MIT.EDU [18.7.7.71])
by central-city-carrier-station.mit.edu (8.9.2/8.9.2) with ESMTP id IAA18014;
Thu, 31 Oct 2002 08:40:42 -0500 (EST)
Received: from nerd-xing.mit.edu (NERD-XING.MIT.EDU [18.7.16.74])
by manawatu-mail-centre.mit.edu (8.9.2/8.9.2) with ESMTP id IAA04061;
Thu, 31 Oct 2002 08:40:41 -0500 (EST)
Received: (from rdshydur@localhost) by nerd-xing.mit.edu (8.9.3)
id IAA13262; Thu, 31 Oct 2002 08:40:41 -0500 (EST)
Message-Id: <200210311340.IAA13262@nerd-xing.mit.edu>
To: Laura Redi <redi@MIT.EDU>
cc: zinky@adelphia.net, satchianne@yahoo.com, jk@media.MIT.EDU,
rdshydur@MIT.EDU
Subject: laura, fyi, nyt's bits re macdonald's-france, was Re: B.U. Vegetarian Society
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Thu, 24 Oct 2002 13:43:14 EDT."
Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2002 08:40:41 -0500
From: richard shyduroff <rdshydur@MIT.EDU>
... should you like to post this to vsg or provide the pointer.
assume you're doing very well, hasty regards, ect, etc,
- r
To: uninformed-political-rants@MIT.EDU
From: "Aram Harrow" <aram@MIT.EDU>
Subject: modesty enters the corporate world?
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2002 23:34:20 -0500
Sender: aram@MIT.EDU
Limit the Big Macs, company's ad warns
Marian Burros The New York Times
Thursday, October 31, 2002
WASHINGTON It isn't often that a food company tells its customers that
it should eat less of its food. But that is what McDonald's appears to
have done in France.
In an "advertorial" about obesity in children that appeared in the
magazine Femme Actuelle in May, McDonald's France said the number of
visits to its outlets should be limited. Forbidding children from
eating fast food would be counterproductive, it said. "However, there
is no reason to eat excessive amounts of junk food, nor go more than
once a week to McDonald's."
A spokesman for McDonald's in the United States said the company did
not agree with the views expressed in the advertorial.
"This is the opinion of one consultant in France," the company said in
a statement. "We do not share this view at all."
The company declined to say how a consultant was able to place the
views in a French publication without the approval of company
executives.
John Banzhaf 3d, a professor of law at George Washington University
who pioneered lawsuits against the tobacco industry and has now
focused on the fast-food industry, said, "It is one thing for a health
advocate like me to call for something like this, but when someone in
industry calls for what we are saying, that makes it sound very
reasonable."
McDonald's has had an uneasy relationship with the French recently
because of mad cow disease and the efforts of one French citizen, Jose
Bove, to protect French culture from foreign influences. Bove became a
folk hero in 1999 when he led a group of French farmers to ransack a
McDonald's in the town of Millau. Bove was jailed for two months for
the action.
Along with other fast food companies, the relationship of McDonald's
with the American public has also come under some strain. Nutrition
advocacy groups have been trying for years to attribute obesity to the
fast food industry, without much success.
But over the last year, lawsuits have begun to replace hectoring. The
suits contend that fast food companies should warn customers that
their products are very high in fat and calories and that frequent
consumption can cause obesity.
The suits are similar to those filed against tobacco companies.
The advertorial in the French magazine "shows that health warnings
about the dangers of eating out often at fast food restaurants are not
only appropriate but may be necessary to avoid liability if children
become obese as a result of overindulgence," Banzhaf said.
The food industry says such suits are frivolous, and the National
Restaurant Association and the Grocery Manufacturers of America have
asked Congress for protection against them.
McDonald's also described as frivolous a lawsuit that Banzhaf's law
students filed against the company for not disclosing that it used
beef tallow in making its fries. But the company paid $12.5 million in
March to settle the case, he said.
Even before the lawsuits, McDonald's, Coca-Cola and several other
companies began a campaign aimed at childhood obesity to deflect
mounting criticism of their products. In addition, McDonald's
announced last month that it was switching the fat in which it cooks
its fries to one that contains fewer trans fatty acids, which raise
cholesterol levels.
In the early 1990s, when nutrition labeling became mandatory in the
United States, the fast food industry succeeded in exempting itself
from the requirement. But because of increased pressure, it now says
that nutrition information is readily available in all of its outlets,
although some critics contend that the information is difficult to
find.
Banzhaf said that the majority of people would probably say that fat
people have no right to sue fast food companies. But he added "that
that is exactly what they said when we said smokers could sue tobacco
companies, and we have won the suits and we have been sustained on
intermediate appeals."
"When you win on the trial level and win on appellate level," he
added, "they are no longer frivolous suits."
Banzhaf has organized a group of health experts and lawyers who worked
on the tobacco cases to expand the lawsuits.
"We want to combine the altruistic motives and profit motives of
lawyers and use them against obesity," he said.
--------
eof;
.
--------------5DFD5A961C10BCD4AD037B5B--
