Lawsuit Addiction

Laying the groundwork for litigation, the obsessive anti-tobacco/anti-fat lawyer/crusader John Banzhaf III has sent a letter to fast food chains demanding "the posting of signs in all restaurants warning customers that studies on animals have shown that eating fatty foods causes addiction-like reactions."

Banzhaf says "a growing body of evidence" indicates fast food "can act on the brain the same way as nicotine or heroin."

Comments

[thoreau]

So, if I like the food I get at a restaurant, I can get Banzhaf to help me sue because they're getting me addicted.

If I don't like the food, I can get Ralph Nader to help me sue on the grounds that this consumer was ripped off, the corporation promised good food but didn't deliver.

So whether or not I like the food I can sue for the price of what I just ate.

Who says there's no free lunch? 😉

[John]

Here's a solution:

"Soylent Green is Product Liability lawyers!"

[Matthew Kudzin]

Banzhaf says "a growing body of evidence" indicates fast food "can act on the brain the same way as nicotine or heroin."

He may be right, but that says more about Heroin and Nicotine than it says about food.

[Douglas Fletcher]

It seems like a lot of tort law has become a way for the stupid to tax the sensible. This is way contrary to the natural order, and I think we might be doomed as a species if this keeps up.

[thoreau]

"Soylent Green is Product Liability lawyers!"

Hah!

Anybody ever see the various "Ban Dihydrogen Monoxide" essays that float around the Internet? For those who hated chemistry, dihydrogen monoxide is just a fancy name for water. But one can say that "dihydrogen monoxide is highly addictive, animals that ingest it must continue doing so in order to survive. The Navy is conducting top-secret tests to use dihydrogen monoxide in time of war. Dihydrogen monoxide is the primary component of acid rain."

Let's get Banzhaf on this one right away!

[thoreau]

P.S. The government has set up elaborate systems to deliver dihydrogen monoxide to key locations in urban areas, ostensibly as a "public health measure." They've even turned a blind eye to all of the dihydrogen monoxide that is washing up on our shores, alongside the syringes and garbage.

[Joe]

...and then, six hours later, I'm hungry again!!!!!!!!

[Warren]

...food "can act on the brain the same way as nicotine or heroin."
WHOA! You mean food can be addicting? Let's ban it! Or maybe we should just legalize the heroin.

[tonio-k]

and of course, the fatter people get, the bigger this "body of evidence" becomes.

[Plutarck]

Food, water, shelter, attention and caring, respect, concern, love...my God, someone please, please help me! Save me from these addictions which afflict me so!

Because, of course, it's really someone else's fault that you traded long-term health for short-term pleasure. Boo fucking hoo.

[Anonymous]

Banzhaf says "a growing body of evidence" indicates fast food "can act on the brain the same way as nicotine or heroin."

Really? I had always assumed that humans would have evolved to experience a rush of negative emotion/sensation whenever engaged in life sustaining activities.

[dagny]

Anything pleasurable causes "addiction-like reactions" in the brain, because that's how the brain works, through hormones. So basically what that sign would say is "You like our food!"

[Anonymous]

It's gone from "just because it feels good, doesn't mean you should do it" to "if it feels good, don't do it."

I hate them all.

[Anonymous]

There's money in that thar guilt.

[fredH]

Banzhaf is simply a self-aggrandizing public nuisance. This has nothing to do with public health and everything to do with the systematic looting of the American economy by the tort bar.

[twistedmerkin]

After this maybe we can move on to lawsuits against thirst. I think the whole anti-fat campaign can be attributed to Michael Moore. Everyone's just tired of seeing his fat ass.

[Out to Lunch]

This "addiction" mechanism is so ingrained in people, and at a very young age. And we're not alone: Animals and even plants have been corrupted by this propensity to feed. Congress must act swiftly!

Brother...

[fyodor]

I never had any problem kicking fast food myself. And each time I fall off the wagon I have little problem staying off for another good long while!

[Perry]

I think that all of this crap could be ended by switching the current fee system to loser pays. If the loser of a lawsuit had to pay all the legal bills for both parties, many frivolous lawsuits would never even be brought forward.

[bomb bomb]

I have some ideas, maybe they suck.

Limit the percentage a vampire can take from an award from a suit.

Limit the amount a person can receive when they win a lawsuit. If someone wrongs you you should be able to collect something, but what is going on now is obscene. Any ideas on what that limit should be?

And, if you are injured while breaking a law, you don't get to sue the person who injured you. If someone breaks into my place and I shoot them, and they somehow survive, they should not be able to sue me. If he wasn't there, he would not have gotten shot. There should be an exception to this rule if the injury is caused by abusive cops.

And now, lunch. KFC anyone?

[Tom]

Watched "Walking With Cavemen" the other night (and even managed to survive Alec Baldwin's hosting without vomiting).

The point was made, however, that the protein consumption (ie, meat) by some branches of early hominids helped their brains grow bigger than the vegetarian types, thus allowing them to figure out ways to survive (and evolve into us). All the little root-gnawing tuber suckers, quite content with their organic meals, turned into Smiledon fodder.

If only Banzhaf and his ilk would meet the same fate...

[Russ Lemley]

Perhaps litigation law firms should post signs in all of their offices warning potential clients that studies on have shown that lawsuits designed to curb tobacco and gun use, among others, causes lawyers to become addicted to settlement money.

[Anonymous]

i had him as a prof... hes craaaaaaazzzy...

...but right