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CEI President Fred Smith discusses fast food lawsuits on “The CBS Evening News.”
On July 2, CEI President Fred L. Smith, Jr. discussed frivolous lawsuits against the fast food industry on “The CBS Evening News.” Following is the transcript
Newscast: Fast-food restaurants fighting back
against litigators for allegedly making Americans fat
MELISSA McDERMOTT, ANCHOR: It's a food fight waiting to happen. Some lawyers want to take a bite out of the fast food industry, but companies say burgers and fries aren't to blame for the super-sizing of
SHARYL ATTKISSON REPORTING: The food industry has a beef with what it calls “McLawsuits,” which blame fast food for
LISA RICKARD, U.S. CHAMBER INSTITUTE FOR LEGAL REFORM: Overweight Americans will not find the solution to obesity in the courtroom.
ATTKISSON: Their studies say fast food isn't the culprit, that it has less fat than old-fashioned home cooking. It's our eating habits. We consume 200 more calories a day than 30 years ago, snack more, exercise less. With powerful trial lawyers launching a tobacco-style legal attack against burgers and fries, and with talk of a fat tax on certain food, the fast-food industry is clearly worried.
FRED SMITH, PRESIDENT, COMPETITIVE ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: [To] the people who are attacking fast foods, these are deadly assault weapons.
ATTKISSON: Fred Smith, munching on Oreos—about 2 grams of fat each—promotes free choice.
SMITH: Demonizing tobacco is one thing. We're now demonizing food; we're demonizing automobiles; we're demonizing energy use. And anyone who doesn't take the trial lawyers seriously hasn't looked at the settlements in those areas.
ATTKISSON: So the food industry is striking back with slick new commercials.
(Excerpt from TV commercial)
ATTKISSON: But fast-food critics argue all they really want is better nutrition information, less junk food ads aimed at children.
MARGO WOOTAN, CENTER FOR SCIENCE IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST: The food industry has exaggerated what the consequences of lawsuits will be in order to make it seem ridiculous to the American public.
ATTKISSON: Many Americans do find the idea of lawsuits or a fat tax hard to swallow.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Because I think when I'm eating something, it's completely left to me to pick my choice.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: I think they're selling a legal product and I don't think that they should be sued. I think this is extortion.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: I got two kids, you know. Do they eat at McDonald's? Occasionally. All the time? No. I know how to say no to them.
ATTKISSON: Another issue is food considered unhealthy today could become tomorrow's health craze. Can a judge and jury really lay down the law on something nutrition experts haven't been able to figure out? Sharyl Attkisson, CBS News,
