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Fast-food blamed for obesity; Experts say consumers have fair share of blame
It's tempting to blame big food companies for America's big obesity problem. After all, they're the folks who Supersized our fries, family-portioned our potato chips and Big Gulped our sodas. There's also the billions they've spent keeping their products ever on our minds and in our mouths. Likened by some to the way tobacco companies seduced smokers, such practices have made the food industry the target of lawsuits and legislation seeking to yank junk food from schools and curb advertising to children. … But while critics applaud the changes, they say industry goodwill and consumer demand aren't reliable enough. The realities of competition can push goodwill aside and consumers can't be counted on to want what's good for them. That's why Richard Daynard, director of the obesity and law project at Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, says lawsuits -- some are pending, some were dismissed or settled -- still are needed as part of a larger assessment of the obesity epidemic. ''You can't get to a solution until you get a diagnosis. If you don't see the role of the junk food industry in causing the problem and in continuing to maintain the problem, you've missed a big part of the diagnosis,'' says Daynard, who is leading a soda industry lawsuit.
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