Fast Food Nation Essay Example for Free

Fast Food Nation Essay Fast Food Is Linked to Obesity and Other Serious Health Problems Fast Food , 2009 Seth Stern is a staff writer at The Christian Science Monitor. Despite the fact that nutritional information about fast food is readily available, many fast food chains are taking the blame for the rise in obesity and other health problems across the nation. Some lawyers are considering the possibility that fast food chains could be held accountable for the health consequences of eating their food. The chains could also be responsible for the effects of their potentially misleading advertising, especially to children. These advertising messages can lead people to overeat, which is one of the reasons behind the obesity problem. For decades, Caesar Barber ate hamburgers four or five times a week at his favorite fast-food restaurants, visits that didnt end even after his first heart attack. But his appetite for fast food didnt stop Mr. Barber, who is 5 foot 10 and weighs 272 pounds, from suing four chains last month, claiming they contributed to his health problems by serving fatty foods. Legal Matters Even the most charitable legal experts give Barber little chance of succeeding. But his suit is just the latest sign that the Big Mac may eventually rival Big Tobacco as public health enemy No. 1 in the nations courts. Lawyers who successfully challenged cigarette manufacturers have joined with nutritionists to explore whether the producers of all those supersize fries and triple cheeseburgers can be held liable for Americas bulging waistlines. Prompted by reports that the nations obesity is getting worse, lawyers as well as nutrition, marketing, and industry economics experts will come together at a conference at Northeastern University in Boston to discuss possible legal strategies. Obesity can be linked to some 300,000 deaths and $117 billion in health care costs a year. Theyre looking at whether food industry marketing—particularly messages aimed at kids—may be misleading or downright deceptive under consumer protection laws, says Richard Daynard, a Northeastern law professor and chair of its Tobacco Products Liability Project. Theyll also consider the more complex question of whether the producers of fatty foods—and even the public schools that sell them—should be held responsible for the health consequences of eating them. A Toxic Food Environment Medical professionals argue that too much unhealthy food is sold by using tempting messages that encourage overeating. People are exposed to a toxic food environment, says Kelly Brownell of Yales Center for Eating and Weight Disorders. It really is an emergency. The figures are certainly startling. Obesity can be linked to some 300,000 deaths and $117 billion in health care costs a year, a report by the Surgeon General found [in 2001]. Such numbers prompted President [George W.] Bush to launch his own war on fat this summer [in 2002], calling on all Americans to get 30 minutes of physical activity each day. But fast-food industry representatives are quick to say, Dont just blame us. Steven Anderson, president of the National Restaurant Association, a trade group, says attorneys who attempt to compare the health risk of tobacco with those of fast food are following a tortuous and twisted logic. All of these foods will fit into [the] diet of most Americans with proper moderation and balance, he says. To be sure, there are big differences between tackling food and tobacco. Any amount of tobacco consumption is dangerous but everyone has to eat, Mr. Daynard says. And few if any foods are inherently toxic. Whats more, while there were only four or five tobacco manufacturers, there are thousands of food manufacturers and restaurants serving some 320,000 different products, says Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition and food studies at New York University. People usually smoke one brand of cigarette. They eat in many restaurants and eat the same foods at home. That makes it almost impossible to prove that a persons obesity or health problems are caused by a particular food or restaurant. As a result, suits such as Barbers that attempt to pin the blame for weight-related problems on specific plaintiffs will run into difficulty in court, says Steven Sugarman, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Suits by state attorneys general to try to recover the cost of treating obese patients, a tactic thats worked with tobacco, also could prove tough. Deceptive Advertising. Thats why lawyers are focusing on more modest suits aimed at advertising and marketing techniques, says John Banzhaf III, a George Washington University law professor who helped initiate the tobacco litigation three decades ago. For example, students in one of Professor Banzhafs courses helped sue McDonalds [in 2000] for advertising its french fries as vegetarian even though the company continued to use beef fat in their preparation. The company agreed to donate $10 million to Hindu and vegetarian groups as part of a settlement. But only in the past few months has Banzhaf considered similar suits as part of a concerted strategy to sue the food industry for false or deceptive advertising as a way of fighting Americans obesity. State consumer-protection laws require sellers to disclose clearly all important facts about their products. Just as a sweater manufacturer should disclose that it may shrink in the wash, Banzhaf says fast-food companies might have an obligation to disclose that a meal has more fat than the recommended daily allowance. Such class-action suits on behalf of people deceived by advertisements could recover the amounts customers spent on the food items but not money spent on related health costs. As with tobacco, marketing aimed at kids will be a particular focus of Banzhaf and his coalition of lawyers and nutritionists. Everybody is looking at children as the vulnerable point in this, says Dr. Nestle. She says shes received loads of e-mails and calls from plaintiff lawyers interested in advice since publishing Food Politics, a book critical of the food industrys marketing and its dominant role in shaping nutritional guidelines. While they know a quarter pounder is not a health food, a lot of people would be surprised to learn it uses up a whole day of calories for women. At a meeting in Boston [August 2002], Banzhaf said attorneys talked about suing Massachusetts school districts that sell fast food in their cafeterias or stock soda in their vending machines. These suits would be based on the legal notion that schools have a higher duty of care than restaurants. Fast-food restaurant chains, for their part, say theyre not hiding whats in their food. At Burger King, for example, nutritional information is supposed to be posted in every dining room. And on its website, Wendys lists 15 categories of information about its products, including total fat and calories for everything from the whole sandwich down to the pickles. Nutritionists say that the information doesnt put the calories in a context people can understand. While they know a quarter pounder is not a health food, a lot of people would be surprised to learn it uses up a whole day of calories for women, says Margo Wootan of the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington. Banzhaf acknowledges that litigation alone wont get Americans in better shape. Hed like nutritional information on the fast-food menu boards and wrappers or even health warnings similar to the ones now required on cigarettes. Still, Banzhaf says litigation will put producers of fatty foods on notice. When we first proposed smoker suits, people laughed too. Further Readings Books Paul Campos The Diet Myth: Why Americas Obsession with Weight Is Hazardous to Your Health. New York: Gotham, 2006. Autumn Libel Fats, Sugars, and Empty Calories: The Fast Food Habit. Philadelphia: Mason Crest, 2006. Gina Mallet Last Chance to Eat: The Fate of Taste in a Fast Food World. New York: Norton, 2004. J. Eric Oliver Fat Politics: The Real Story Behind Americas Obesity Epidemic. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. George Ritzer McDonaldization of Society 5. Los Angeles: Pine Forge, 2008. Eric Schlosser Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. New York: HarperPerennial, 2005. Eric Schlosser and Charles Wilson Chew on This: Everything You Dont Want to Know About Fast Food. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006. Michele Simon Appetite for Profit: How the Food Industry Undermines Our Health and How to Fight Back. New York: Nation Books, 2006. Andrew F. Smith Encyclopedia of Junk and Fast Food. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2006. Morgan Spurlock Dont Eat This Book: Fast Food and the Supersizing of America. New York: G. P. Putnams Sons, 2005. Jennifer Parker Talwar Fast Food, Fast Track: Immigrants, Big Business, and the American Dream. Boulder, CO: Westview, 2003. Tina Volpe The Fast Food Craze: Wreaking Havoc on Our Bodies and Our Animals. Kagel Canyon, CA: Canyon, 2005. Periodicals Frank Bruni Life in the Fast-Food Lane, New York Times, May 24, 2006. Steve Chapman Force-Fed the Facts, Reason, June 23, 2008. Temple Grandin Special Report: Maintenance of Good Animal Welfare in Beef Slaughter Plants by Use of Auditing Programs, Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, February 1, 2005. Anne Kingston and Nicholas Kohler L. A. s Fast Food Drive-by: A City Councils Ban on Fast-Food Chains Is a Provocative Social Experiment, Macleans, August 25, 2008. Laura Kipnis Americas Waistline, Slate, October 28, 2005. www. slate. com.Amelia Levin Good Food Fast, Foodservice Equipment Supplies, October 1, 2006. Sarah More McCann Wanted: Inner-City Supermarkets, Christian Science Monitor, June 27, 2008. Ruth Mortimer Why Fast-Food Brands Should Not Change Their Recipe for Success, Marketing Week, August 28, 2008. Evelyn Nieves Fla. Tomato Pickers Still Reap Harvest of Shame,' Washington Post, February 28, 2005. Jennifer Ordonez Fast-Food Lovers, Unite! Newsweek, May 24, 2004. Jonathan Rosenblum Fast Food Nation Interview: Eric Schlosser on Obesity, Kids, and Fast-Food PR, PR Watch, November 17, 2006.www. prwatch. org. Gary Ruskin and Juliet Schor Junk Food Nation, Nation, August 29, 2005. William Saletan Junk-Food Jihad, Slate, April 15, 2006. www. slate. com. San Francisco Chronicle Battle of the Bulge: Fast Food Is King at Arroyo High, June 29, 2003. Morgan Spurlock The Truth About McDonalds and Children, Independent (London), May 22, 2005. Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale, COPYRIGHT 2006 Gale. Source Citation Stern, Seth. Fast Food Is Linked to Obesity and Other Serious Health Problems. Fast Food. Ed. Tracy Brown Collins. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2005. At Issue. Rpt.from Fast-Food Restaurants Face Legal Grilling. The Christian Science Monitor. 2002. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 28 Aug. 2012. Document URL http://ic. galegroup. com. ezproxy. taftcollege. edu/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/Vi ewpointsDetailsWindow? failOverType=query=prodId=OVICwindowstate=n ormalcontentModules=mode=viewdisplayGroupName=Viewpointslimi ter=currPage=disableHighlighting=falsesource=sortBy=dis playGroups=action=ecatId=activityType=scanId=documentId =GALE%7CEJ3010311212userGroupName=taftcoll_mainjsid=3f16b8df6b867664f0 b4be12be1db146 Gale Document Number: GALE|EJ3010311212.

The Facts About Food Preservatives Essay -- Health, Food Preservatives

There is something that has been around for thousands of years, makes your trips to the grocery store cheaper and prevents people from dying of starvation every winter. This invention that helps us in many ways is food preservatives. Most people associate food preservatives with terrible chemicals that should be avoided, and while many that are used today have been known to cause health problems, there are many benefits that some people may not be aware of that food preservatives offer us. Before there were so many food preservatives, things were different in the traditional house. People didn’t have enough food in the winter because crops and meat that were unpreserved went bad. When people expected the food was about to go bad they would eat all of it so that nothing would be wasted. Also, as winter was approaching, many farmers would kill all of their animals because it was not economically wise to keep them through the winter. The animals would have to be fed and kept warm but grass wouldn’t be available for them to eat, water sources where they normally drink would be frozen over and they wouldn’t be producing as much food as they normally produce, such as milk or eggs. Also, animals that moved heavy farm equipment, like horses or oxen were not needed as much when there was no farming to do. People first figured out how to make food last longer a very long time ago. In as early as 1000 BCE, the Chinese had figured out how to use salt, spices and smoking. The Incas figured out how to freeze-dry things by around the 15th century. This helped them to always have 3-7 years of food available for their warriors. Nicolas Appert (pictured) was a French chef who figured out in January of 1810 how to store food in airtigh... ...urger-looks-almost-new/>. "Early methods of food preservation." Early methods of food preservation. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Nov. 2013. . "Food Additives." Food Additives. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Nov. 2013. . French, Alicia. "The top 10 scariest food facts." Food Recipes RSS. N.p., 21 Oct. 2011. Web. 8 Nov. 2013. . "Middle Ages Food Preservation." Middle Ages Food Preservation. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Nov. 2013. . Pancholi, Rahul. "Join Academia.edu & Share your research with the world." Food preservatives. N.p., 12 Apr. 2012. Web. 8 Nov. 2013. .

Dramatic and Significant in Act 2 Scene 3 Macbeth

Title: How does Shakespeare make this scene both a significant and dramatic moment in the play? In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth there are a lot of dramatic, exciting and tragic occurrences in many of the scenes. Although in the beginning, Shakespeare foreshadowed the tragedies that were to come nothing could have prepared the audience for what took place in Act 2 scene 3. This is the scene in which King Duncan is found murdered causing shock and panic in all the characters on stage.He dramatizes the scene by portraying the discovery of the King’s body, by emphasizing the shock and disbelief of the characters, by the flattering description given of Duncan and by revealing to the audience the deceptive characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Duncan is the King of Scotland. He went to Macbeth’s castle to commend Macbeth in his bravery in the war against Scotland. However what he did not know was that his death was planned before his arrival.Although we the audience on ly meet Duncan briefly Shakespeare provides us with an admirable view of Duncan’s character by the way the other characters describe him. For example when Duncan was found murdered Macduff had expressed his disbelief and outrage with the words: â€Å"Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope/The Lord’s anointed temple, and stole thence/The life o' th' building! † In this quote Shakespeare is comparing Duncan to God’s Temple. This gives the audience an idea of how kind and just Duncan really was.Even Macbeth calls the king â€Å"graceful and renowned† although the audience is not quite sure whether he meant it or not. Macbeth refers to the king’s blood as â€Å"the wine of life† and his body as â€Å"the dregs that remain. † In other words Duncan’s virtuous character was in his blood and now that it has been shed only the shell remained. Macduff was the one who discovered Duncan's corpse. He was very much frightened and sho cked to find his master dead. He had arrived on Duncan's orders to wake him up early only to find the king murdered.He comes out of the king’s chamber traumatized saying â€Å"O horror, horror, horror! /Tongue nor heart cannot conceive nor name thee! † To him this is unbelievable. Shakespeare depicts the shocked tone through Macduff’s words â€Å"O horror, horror, horror! † and through the exclamation marks to represent the tone of surprise in which Macduff spoke. There was a lot of commotion after that. Macduff awoken everyone by yelling and by ringing the bell to which Lady Macbeth responds â€Å"What’s the business, /that such a hideous trumpet calls to parley/The sleepers of the house?Speak, speak! † Lady Macbeth demands to know for what reason Macduff rung the bell awakening everyone that was sleeping. As everyone clambers in the tension and disbelief of the other characters start to build up emphasizing the drama of this scene. The aud ience is well aware that Macbeth was the one that killed the King and that Lady Macbeth helped him to accomplish the mission. So when they pretend they don’t know what happened it brings out one of the major themes of this play, deception. This scene reveals the duplicitous characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.Shakespeare portrays Macbeth as a person with a conscience but not a moral one. Macbeth wants to be king but he would rather have someone else do the evil deed and take the fall while he becomes king. He nevertheless kills the king and feigns disbelief when the body is found. He also killed the two innocent guards who were framed for the murder calling it an act passionate fury. Although the characters onstage are yet to find out that Macbeth is deceitful the audience waits tensely for the moment in which all is revealed.Lady Macbeth is also shown as a duplicitous character here in this scene. She is well aware of what took place since it was her master plan but prete nds to be innocent when Duncan's body is found. The irony in this scene is when Macduff trying to protect the Lady tells her â€Å"O gentle lady, /'Tis not for you to hear what I can speak: The repetition, in a woman’s ear, would murder as it fell† little does he know how ironic his choice of the word â€Å"gentle† is. He tells her that if he repeats the news to her she would die because of the tragedy.However Lady Macbeth is not shocked at the news although she feigns it since she herself kept awake to see that the deed was done. Lady Macbeth earlier on the play retorts to Macbeth that she herself would have done it if she wasn’t born a woman; she originally cursed her ‘gentleness’ begging nature to take the gift of giving life away from her. She even advises Macbeth on how to be deceitful when she said â€Å"To beguile the time, Look like the time. Bear welcome in your eye, your hand, your tongue. Look like th' innocent flower, But be the serpent under ’t. this shows that she is the more experienced one in being deceitful which is ironic since it’s Macbeth that is the ‘brave and worthy’ kinsmen. Shakespeare shows her to be a cruel woman who would stop at nothing for her husband’s success. This scene is a very dramatic one leaving most of the audience on their toes in anticipation and suspense dying to know what was going to happen. Later on we discover that Malcolm the crown Prince runs away leaving the throne. This is when the audience fully realizes that the Witches were telling the truth and that their final prophecy came true. Macbeth became King of Scotland.

Ethical Issues Essay - 1300 Words

Phase 2 Individual Project INTD670-1303A-01 Scenario Joe Smith a sales representative is one of Tom Tramlins top people in sales for UWEAR and PALEDENIM. Bill Bateman the CEO of the Peninsula Hotel chains met with Joe through Tom through the last contract and is meeting with him again to discuss the renewal of the contract for supplying uniforms for their employees at the hotel. Joe has become good friends with Bill and his wife and have received many perks since the last signing of the contract, like being invited to go on their yacht, social events, and staying at the hotel which is very beautiful and has an excellent swimming pool with a waterfall that the kids absolutely love. Joe landed the last contract by pricing the uniforms†¦show more content†¦Since the policy at UWEAR states, that it is unethical to have contact or discuss business with a client that the management team does not approve of. Since this got Joe in trouble last time with management by pricing uniforms lower to win the contract, he should be ca utious of his decision. Discuss with Bill your thoughts and tell him you will get back with him as soon as you can, or you could just explain to Bill, that there can be no discussion of the contract they are working on and it only is a family fun day out on the yacht between friends. Joe should analyze the businesses code of ethics, make the decision, and realize what effects his decision will have on all stakeholders, and anyone that will be affected. How will the decision you make affect stakeholders if the decision you make turns out the way you plan? How will it affect everyone involved if your decision to go with Bill does not go as planned and backfires? Ethical Theory of Joes response to Bill Joe has a duty and this duty is to be responsible and has an obligation to UWEAR, its employee’s, and his family. The theory of deontological is a moral system that focuses on moral duties and rules. By knowing, what our moral duties are and what rules exist, to regulate those duties will help with a decision to go with Bill on the yacht without telling management, or discuss the matter with management and reassure them that is not business related. IfShow MoreRelatedThe Ethical Issues On Civil Journalism2970 Words   |  12 Pagesmodels and the exponential increase in â€Å"publishing† capabilities, there is an urgent need to identify news sources that are genuinely journalistic.’ (Meyers, Wyatt, Borden, Wasserman.) What I wish to bring out and elaborate in this paper are the ethical issues on how civil journalism, despite the acceptance and cooperation with professional journalism, is differentiated from its professional and vetted track. 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