Obesity: Personal Responsibility or Blame Food Companies?
Big food companies and fast food chains are constantly under attack from health advocates for their contribution to the growing waistlines and chronic disease of developed nations.
Much of the finger pointing is justifiable, given the ubiquity, proximity, convenience and low cost of the majority of food options available to us via big food/restaurant.
Should big food and fast food joints take responsibility for their part in the health crisis that is upon us (such as a fat tax)? To what degree are they responsible?
Groups like the Center for Consumer Freedom counter with the personal responsibility card.
We are the ones who wear the robes and carry the gavel when it comes to what enters our mouths. Nobody is pointing a gun to our heads and demanding we down ½ pound burgers, a small bucket of fries and a pop big enough to dock a jet ski in.
So where do we draw that line between personal responsibility and responsible business practices?
Let me give it a shot...
No individual should be able to sue a restaurant/food company because they got fat eating their food. It seems anything not right with us nowadays is somebody else’s fault. To that I say God Bless the Cheeseburger Bill!
However…
Big food and fast food (especially those companies who are publicly traded) have to show profit every 90 days. This means one thing – sell more food… faster. These corporations MUST be legislated into changing their business practices and become accountable for the way they manufacture, market and sell their products.
Westernized nations didn’t just collectively become nutritionally irresponsible over the past 20 years!
52 Comments
Add Your Comment
Created / Updated: February 28, 2010
Here in the US, company-sponsored health insurance is melting away as healthcare costs continue to rise. The reasons are complex but a large part of it has to do with new medical technology being deployed with no or limited commensurate improvement in health. Look at the study I point to above (it's a report from the Congressional Budget Office presented to the US Senate about three weeks ago). There's a map - Figure 3 - that shows medicare spending in the US. Compare it with this map of the regional obesity rate in the US. There's a correlation between the two maps, which is in part due to the health care costs of obesity. And, the region with the largest fraction of food purchases being fast food is also the region with high obesity. So... if your company is taking away your health care, it is, in part, due to other people making personal choices that lead to obesity and poor health.
I agree that suing fast food companies is a poor technique. But, many individuals making poor choices is affecting all of us. We, as a society need some help! We are losing this fight.
Reply100% the consumers responsibility.
If only growers markets advertised the same way fast food did...
ReplyI am overweight because I have made the poor choices.
ReplyNo one put anything in my mouth but me.
I am resposible for my actions.
HaHa!! Yes, there are times to stay mute!! At least I have the lose/loose thing down, for today anyway :-)
ReplyI blame the "food" companies in-so-far as they advertise chemicals as being food. Food is grown on a farm. Chemicals are manufactured in a laboratory.
Until they stop selling chemicals as food, these corporations are responsible, in part, for making people fat and sick.
ReplyExcellent article!! More from this author!!
ReplyI think individuals bear the ultimate responsibility for what they eat. We choose to either eat badly or keep ourselves uneducated about what qualifies as good food. As such, the burden is on us.
However, I do think there is something we could do on the legislative level and that would be a complete overhaul of the farmbill. This is the piece of legislature that makes corn, wheat and a few other crops artificially low priced. This in turn makes cheap beef and poultry available at prices that seem like a bargain over fruit and vegetables. Fix the farm bill so foods are priced more realistically and you'll quickly see diets improve.
Gal
ReplyCorn/wheat are very highly subsidized, as is milk and beef (to a slightly lesser degree). Fruits and vegetables, which is what we SHOULD be eating more of, get 0 subsidies from the government. There's definitely something wrong with that picture. Who's going to want to grow strawberries when you can make a buttload more money by growing corn?
And on a side note...has anyone else noticed the increase in the price of soda lately? I have. I think maybe raising the prices of junk food could discourage people from buying it...people who really want it will still buy it. I know I will buy less soda when it's more expensive. Right now, I only buy it when it's on sale and I'm definitely cutting back on my consumption.
ReplyWe were taught how to become responsible persons and it is not someone else’s responsibility to look out for our own health. It's our responsibility so there's no one else to blame but ourselves.
ReplyIt's our own responsibility. Even if we get rid of all the unhealthy foods and only the healthy foods available, people can still abuse it by overeating and become obese.
ReplyThere is a great article related this topic in today's New York Times. It's about the law in New York City that requires chain restaurants to list the calories or detailed nutritional information in the menu. The restaurants don't like it, but the consumers do. It's very hard to estimate calories in restaurant food. From the article:
ReplyWow. A lot of stuff is addressed here. I need to add my two cents in a couple of categories:
1. A "fat tax" won't work. For proof, look at the recent cigarette taxes that have been levied. In Jan. or Feb. of this year, our governor here in Iowa rushed through an "emergency" $1.00 tax per pack on cigarettes. The point of the tax was to get people to quit smoking, and stop kids from starting. Few people have quit. Kids still start smoking. The money doesn't matter when you have an addiction to feed. And kids don't know the value of money - they'll spend $200 on a pair of jeans this week, and refuse to wear them next week because they're not in style anymore. Think $1.00 per pack is going to bother *them*?
2. Many people have mentioned the connection between the government and our food supply. Perhaps way back when, in the early days of our country before bribery and graft became a way of life for our "leaders", having the government regulate aspects of the food supply was a good idea. Now, I'm not so sure. We are paying our tax dollars to subsidize all kinds of crops that we don't need. High Fructose Corn Syrup came about because government wanted to boost the corn industry, so they subsidized it, making HFCS cheaper than sugar. Perhapes the FDA and the USDA do good works (I don't doubt that they do), but they're full of corruption, too. Money speaks louder than health.
3. It comes down to personal responsibility. We are the ones who buy the fast food and eat it. Nobody shoves it down our throats. The only members of our society who are allowed to complain are our children, who are at the mercy of our poor choices.
ReplyI also think fat tax will not work. People who have the money will pay anything for things they really want. As long as it gives them satisfaction, price no longer matters to them.
Replypersonal problem. You have the choice to drive to Mcdonalds and order a whopper or whatever it is they serve there over having a salad at home.
ReplyOkay well first of all, no one is holding a gun to our heads to eat fastfood. So hello as human beings we have free will which is a natural instinct therefore what we eat is a conscience decision that we make. We have no one to blame but ourselves when it comes to non-hereditary weight gain. Theres nothing wrong with indulging in a nice large order of fries from McDonalds every once in a while, but that's it -- not a daily thing.
ReplyWe must be personally responsible for our habits, however I think that many people these days don't have an understanding of the importance of good nutrition. Nobody is teaching us how to eat properly and certainly big business is not helping. Fast food only fosters further misunderstanding of good eating habits.
Replygiant fast food corporations are constantly advertising their unhealthy foods, for profit. i feel like they are promoting obesity.
ReplyDont sew fast food its ur falt your fat
ReplyLook people you know what you eat. Obviously if you eat Mcdonalds three time a week your not going to be a healthy person so why is it the fast food chains fault that you go out and buy that type of food. It's your fault for spending the money on food you know is bad. This is not a complicated issue.
ReplyI've been smoking cigarettes for about 17 years and that's at least 247,520 cigarettes. I've been drinking alcohol for about 12 years and that is at least 419,328 ounces of beer and about 40-50 gallons of hard liquor. I've been practicing self- mutilation for about 17 years and I have at least 300 scars from an assortment of knives.
Whose fault is it if I contract a smoking related disease mine or the cigarette companies?
Whose fault is it if I die from alcoholism mine or Budweiser?
Whose fault is it if I accidentally cut to deep with a knife and bleed to death mine or the company that made the knife?
My point is: if you know something is bad for you and you do it anyway you are solely responsible for your own actions.
"If guns kill people then I can blame misspelled words on my pencil."
ReplyI have to agree with most of what I've read. As adults we are responsible for what we put in our mouths. We're also responsible for what we feed our children. Our children are suffering. The obesity rates of our children are higher than they've ever been. I say it starts at home. It is there that we do have the choice to make it better, to cook a meal and put it on the table. Yes, it takes time and yes it takes commitment. Unfortunately, in todays world society reinforces the easy way. Marketing reinforces the easy way. Technology doesnt allow us to slow down and certainly makes it easy. I think we're due for some serious honesty. We need education. We need bold truth. We need to make time and stop the madness. Yes, McDonalds doesnt force us to eat the food but do you see them educating us on TV about how many calories are in the BIGMAC and its fat content? Its amazing to me that people who market this food, knowing how terrible it is for us, would say its ok to make because "we want it". BS. If they make a healthy burger, we'll want it. Where's the integrity?
Reply