Are we taking it too far by blaming fast food restaurants for obesity Research Paper

Are we taking it too far by blaming fast food restaurants for obesity When is it individual responsibility and when is it appropriate to place blame - Research Paper Example Obesity is a major risk factor for several diseases which include cardiovascular problems, Diabetes, Gall stone and is a major health concern today. Working for BBC, Ray Dunne came up with some alarming statistics. The numbers around 300m people worldwide are obese, one in three American adults is obese and one in four Britons is obese. Obesity is estimated to cost the US $75bn annually. Obesity can reduce life expectancy by up to nine years and poor diet and a lack of exercise killed 400,000 Americans in 2000. These are some jaw dropping an alarming factors but the big question that needs to be asked in who is responsible for all this and who is to be put at blame? Last couple of decades showed a rapid growth of corporate world and so did the world of ‘food chain’ business came up. Now there are thousands of food chains all over the world and MacDonald’s being a leading industry in that. In 2003, Jazlyn Bradley aged 19 and Ashley Pelman aged 14, unable to resist the temptation of MacDonald’s and weighing 270 pounds and 170 pounds respectively sued MacDonald for making them obese. They argued that they didn’t know about the food ingredients and their father said that he always thought MacDonald’s was good for his children’s health. The court didn’t seem to agree and said that, "Its not the place of the law to protect them against their own excesses." This totally explains my personal opinion about it as well since it is the responsibility of an individual to decide what is good for health and how much they can consume it. After this case, US House of Representatives also passed a legislation which made it illegal to sue any food chain just because it makes people obese. Diane Fields (5) seems to propose the same idea. Just like you can’t blame tobacco industry for mouth cancer and casinos for problem of gambling, similarly you can’t blame fast restaurants