AR-News: [US] Congress takes notice

[Andrew Gach]

[As skyrocketing obesity rates become public concern as a public health
threat on a par with cigarette smoking, our lawmakers see the need to do
something about it.  Here is their response...]

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---

A bill pending in the U.S. Senate would prevent people from suing
restaurants and food manufacturers for making them overweight.

Suing Big Food has become more common as Americans look to assign legal
responsibility for the obesity epidemic. But "I think it's important not to
blame poor eating habits on someone else," the Associated Press quotes Sen.
Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) as saying. A statement by McConnell says that the
growing number of lawsuits is a "disturbing turn of events."

McConnell sponsored the bill, which the AP says would protect one big
company in his home state: Yum! Foods, which owns Pizza Hut, KFC, and Taco
Bell.

The bill, called the Commonsense Consumption Act, would block lawsuits based
on weight gain but not for fraud. According to the AP, McConnell predicts an
uphill battle.

A similar bill is pending in the House of Representatives.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=97&ncid=97&e=3&u=/hsn/200307
20/hl_hsn/healthnbsphighlightsjulynbsp20nbsp2003