November 9, 2002
		McDonald's France: Lay Off The Big Macs, Kids\ McDonald's France has taken an unusual approach to countering adolescent weight gain in that country: advising that patrons limit the amount of visits to their outlets. In an advertisement running in the May, 2002 issue of Femme Actuelle, McDonald's France said that while forbidding children from eating fast food would be counterproductive, it continued that, "However, there is no reason to eat excessive amounts of junk food, nor go more than once a week to McDonald's." McDonald's USA was quick to disagree and draw a distinction between them and their French counterparts. "This is the opinion of one consultant in France," the spokesperson said in a statement. "We do not share this view at all." John H. Banzhaf III, a professor of law at George Washington University said, "It is one thing for a health advocate like me to call for something like this, but when someone in industry calls for what we are saying, that makes it sound very reasonable." Mr. Banzhaf is a pioneer behind the lawsuits against the tobacco industry, and is now focused on the fast food industry. The advertisement in Femme Actuelle "shows that health warnings about the dangers of eating out often at fast food restaurants are not only appropriate, but may be necessary to avoid liability if children become obese as a result of overindulgence," Mr. Banzhaf said. The food industry claims that such lawsuits are frivolous; the National Restaurant Association and the Grocery Manufacturers of America have asked Congress for protection against them. McDonald's singled out as frivolous Mr. Banzhaf's lawsuit against the company for not disclosing that it used beef tallow in its French fries. McDonald's paid $12.5 million in March to settle the case, though. When nutrition labeling became mandatory in the early 1990s, the fast food industry managed to exempt itself from the requirement. Because of increased demand, though, the industry says that nutrition information is now readily available in all of its outlets, but some find the information challenging to find. Mr. Banzhaf said that while many feel that overweight people have no right to sue fast food companies, "that is exactly what they said when we said smokers could sue tobacco companies, and we have won the suits, and we have been sustained on intermediate appeals." "When you win on the trial level and win on the appellate level," he added, "they are no longer frivolous suits."