Stemming from litigation against the fast-food industry that claims McDonald's and the like are causing obesity in children, the House voted yesterday to "shield fast-food chains from lawsuits that blame them for making people fat." H.R. 554, or "the cheeseburger bill" as it's been labeled, was passed 306-120 and will "prevent class-action lawsuits blaming restaurants and food companies from weight gain and obesity."
House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., said potential costs from the lawsuits threaten the food industry and its 12 million employees and raise food prices for consumers. He added, "These suits would be laughable if they were not so harmful."
According to an AP article today, critics of the bill contend that a better way to make people responsible for how they eat is to require nutrition information on menus and menu boards. I think by now, many consumers have realized that there are health risks involved with a lifestyle of fast-food eating, and as a result it is their choice whether or not they want to continue it. However, to blame the fast-food industry for causing their lifestyle and subsequent health problems is ludicrous.
Besides, is it really the government's job to require that private corporations be regulated in the way critics have proposed, or is its job to protect these industries from crippling lawsuits that pose more threat to the national economy than to the single industry. In all honesty, if I wanted to pull a Morgan Spurlock and fill myself with 90 fast-food meals over a 30-day timespan fully aware of the health risk, does it seem logical that I be allowed to sue for the detriment to my health? No, it seems logical that I be smacked in the back of the head by the retard police for being so stupid!
Lawsuits are becoming the thorn in the collective side of many industries in the modern era. Since many found it profitable to sue the cigarette companies for their lung cancer, even though we've known for half a century that it causes the deadly disease, cases of the sort have sprung up in any industry that could pose even a minimal health risk.
Soon, we'll see the Ninth "Circus" Court hearing cases that claim we should block out the sun because it causes skin cancer. Maybe then people would see how outrageous it is to blame others for giving us dangerous products when it's their own damn fault for purchasing them in the first place. The free market can only work when impediments like government regulation are at a minimum, not when they're encouraged.
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2 comments:
Three points:
1) The necessity of this bill shows how our society has become a society of people refusing to take personal responsibility for their actions.
2) The necessity of this bill shows how our legal system is full of frivilous lawsuits that have been filed due to judges and juries that don't require plaintifs to take personal responsibility for their actions.
3) This bill, if it becomes law, will most likely be challenged in federal court as unconstitutional.
What's up with all the buttons Jeremy?
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