Cause and Effect Essay - McDonalds Causes More Deaths than Terrorists

Cause and Effect Essay - McDonalds Causes More Deaths than TerroristsIt was probably inevitable that one day people would start suing McDonaldsfor making them fat. That day came this summer, when fresh York lawyer SamuelHirsch filed several lawsuits against McDonalds, as well as four otherfast- sustenance companies, on the grounds that they had failed to adequatelydisclose the bad health effects of their menus. atomic number 53 of the suits involves aBronx teenager who tips the scale at 400 pounds and whose mother, in papersfiled in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, said, I always believedMcDonalds regimen was si newy for my son.Uh-huh. And the tooth fairy really put that dollar under his pillow. Butonce youve stopped sniggering at our litigious society, remember that itonce seemed equally ludicrous that smokers could successfully sue tobaccocompanies for their addiction to cigarettes. And while nobody is claimingthat Big Macs are addictive -- at least not yet -- the restaurant in dustryand aliment packagers have clearly helped give many Americans the roly-polyshape they have today. This is not to say that the folks in the foodindustry want us to be fat. But make no mistake When they do welleconomically, we gain weight.It wasnt always thus. There was a time when atrip to McDonalds seemed interchangeable a treat and when a small bag of French fries,a plain burger and a 12-ounce Coke seemed want a full meal. Fast food wasntany healthier back then we simply ate a lot less of it.How did todays oversized appetites become the norm? It didnt happen by happening or some inevitable evolutionary process. It was to a large degreethe result of consumer manipulation. Fast foods marketing strategies, whichmake p... ...d McDonaldsjust suffered its first quarterly damage since the company went public 47years ago. The obvious direction to go is down, toward what nutritional policymakersare calling smart-sizing. Or at least it should be obvious, if foodpurveyors cared as much about helping Americans slim down as they would haveus believe. Instead of urging Americans to Get Active, Stay Active --Pepsi Colas new criticism-deflecting slogan -- how about bringing back the6.5-ounce sodas of the 40s and 50s? Or, imagine, as Critser does, the daywhen McDonalds advertises Le Petit Mac, made with high-grade beef, adelicious whole-grain bun and hawked by, say, Serena Williams. One way oranother, as Americans wake up to the fact that obesity is killing nearly asmany citizens as cigarettes are, jumbo burgers and super-size fries willseem like less of a bargain.