“Finger-lickin’ dumb.” That’s how today’s Washington Times editorial page describes the trial lawyers that are “holding the fast-food industry to blame for individual choices.”
The Times also calls the federal government’s claim that American obesity rates have climbed 8 percent since 1994 “highly misleading,” noting that “in 1997 the U.S. changed its standard” to conform to the World Health Organization’s stricter guidelines. “Literally overnight, millions of adults previously classified as slim and trim found themselves overweight.”
With so-called “experts” blaming a perceived “obesity epidemic” on everything from restaurant portion sizes to the human genome itself, and with governments around the world beginning to propose wholesale bans on food advertising, this Times editorial is, well, timely:
“[T]here are a host of (mostly sad) sociological factors that contribute to Americans’ unhealthy lifestyles — the overdependence on automobiles, for example, the decline of public recreation and the increase in single-parent homes. The fast-food industry sells food, period. It’s up to the individual — and not the government — whether hamburgers are a smart meal choice every day.”
