Is Fast Food the New Tobacco?

Is Fast Food the New Tobacco?

Tobacco has for decades been linked to cancer, asthma, and many other illnesses. The CDC.gov website has history on when the government finally put labels on cigarettes. According to the site, On January 11, 1964, Luther L. Terry, M.D., Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service, released the first report of the Surgeon General’s Advisory Committee on Smoking and Health. In1966 the Federal government mandated that cigarette packs have a warning on them from the surgeon general. The question of whether Fast food is the new tobacco is a loaded one. Some like myself would say yes. I say yes because it seems the government is trying to regulate fast food as they do tobacco and yet are not doing a great job. Slapping a label on things has never entirely deterred a person from using a product. Radley Balko’s article ‘What You Eat is Your Business’ published in 2004 talked about the government attempting to make mandates to control obesity. He said, “Congress is now considering menu-labeling legislation which would force restaurants to send every menu item to the laboratory for nutritional testing.” Restaurants already must abide by so many regulations when it comes to public health. I think of the cost of this testing of every item on a menu, who is covering that? The restaurant business is already a risky one for owners where most don’t turn a profit before their second year in business.  If one were to decide to add an appetizer to the menu as a special but first had to go through getting that to a lab for testing, that would be discouraging. Restaurants would shrink their menus because the hassle would just not be worth it. It makes me question what then would happen if a restaurant’s menu item does not pass the nutritional testing? What are the criteria for passing? It raises a lot of questions for me.

The Film ‘What the Health’ sought to exposes the collusion and corruption in government and big business which is said to be costing us trillions of healthcare dollars and keeping us sick. The filmmaker Kip Andersen noticed that on the websites of some American health nonprofits such as the American Diabetes association, they would post meal ideas aimed at managing diabetes, while promoting foods that some would deem unhealthy. He calls the association and wants to know why they don’t clearly state on their home page that meat causes diabetes, He eventually is able to interview an ADA spokesman who tells him there is insufficient evidence that diet can cure diabetes and says, “We recommend a healthy diet.” This filmmaker seemed super focused on promoting a vegan diet. It almost felt as if that was the whole point of the film. Animal products are bad plants are good so stop eating animal products and all your health problems will disappear. At the end of the film, he walks around a supermarket with a nutrition expert and talk about how it is affordable to have a plant-based diet. I don’t believe this man has a real view of what the average family does to make it to the next check food wise. Although it may cost more health wise in the long run, most families just eat what they can afford and what is available in their neighborhoods. David Zinczenko wrote in his article ‘Don’t Blame the eater’ about growing up in the mid 1980’s where his parents were working long hours and his choices for lunch and dinner were McDonald’s Taco Bell KFC or Pizza Hut. For most Americans, an affordable meal usually means fast food.

The government putting a label on cigarettes to warn against smoking has not stopped people from smoking, but it has made them aware of the risks. They have taken other measures such as having an age requirement for purchase. When it comes to food, the most they’ve done is having caloric information available if you ask for it at some fast-food restaurants. Imagine if there were free community gardens, farmers markets and even supermarkets in every neighborhood with fresh produce. That would make such a big difference. In my neighborhood, I would never think to go to the market on my street for fresh produce. The quality is poor. I must go to another city to get my fruits and vegetables because I am not satisfied with what has been deemed adequate for my family. If the government put more effort in regulating food as it did cigarettes maybe things would be different, and we wouldn’t be killing ourselves with poor eating habits.