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A state legislator wants to add Pennsylvania to the list of states that protect the food industry from lawsuits in which people blame restaurants and other food vendors for making them fat. Rep. Douglas Reichley, R-Lehigh, said he introduced his bill last month to protect the state's agriculture and food industries because he doesn't think they should be sued for "making food that tastes good." … The flood of legislation across the country - dubbed by some as "cheeseburger bills" - is partly a response to a high-profile suit against McDonald's filed by two New York City teenagers who said their burger-and-fries diet made them fat. Lower courts in New York dismissed the case twice, but a federal appeals court reinstated part of it earlier this year. A handful of similar suits have been thrown out since the New York case was filed in 2002 and there are no other known cases pending, legal experts said. In the last two years, 16 states have enacted laws prohibiting such obesity lawsuits; in New Mexico, lawmakers approved a "right-to-eat-enchiladas act." The U.S. House has also approved such legislation. … But Richard Daynard, director of the obesity and law project at Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, said the wave of bills is "a diversion and counterproductive." Daynard, who has not been involved in obesity suits against food establishments, said legal action can be a deterrent to bad behavior, while also raising awareness about obesity.
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