- On any given day, about a quarter of Americans scarf
down burgers, fries, and sodas, the staples of the all-American fast food
fix.
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- Residents of the United States spend more on fast food
a year than they do movies, books, magazines, newspapers, videos, and
records
combined. Americans shelled out more than $110 billion on burgers, fried
chicken, and the like in 2000, compared with $6 billion in 1970.
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- That obsession with fast food is harming adults and
children
alike, said Eric Schlosser, a journalist who wrote Fast Food Nation ,
subtitled:
The Dark Side of the All-American Meal.
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- The best seller, just out in paperback, contends that
fast food has changed the way Americans eat, and is partly to blame for
obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and deaths from E-coli bacteria. Its
author proposes that people essentially boycott fast food until restaurants
start preparing healthier food.
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- "People should know what they're eating, and how
it's made; they should spend their money at places that make food
well,"
Schlosser told Good Morning America . "Nobody is forcing people to
eat this stuff, and fast food places will change when customers demand
changes."
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- Even if 2 percent to 3 percent of customers complained,
it would make a big drop in sales, Schlossberg said. The fast food
companies
aren't out to harm us. But what is good for them in the short run, is not
good for us in the long run.
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- When Fast Food Nation first came out, McDonald's gave
this response:
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- "His [Schlosser's] opinion is outvoted 45 million
to 1 every single day, because that's how many customers around the world
choose to come to McDonald's for our menu of variety, value and
quality,"
the statement said.
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- Healthy, Happy Meals?
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- U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher issued a "call
to action" in mid-December, saying some 300,000 deaths a year are
related to obesity, and calling for the removal of fast-food from
schools.
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- "Fast food is really moving into schools, which
is horrible, because eating habits are formed when you're young, so if
you get fat then, you've started a lifelong battle," Schlosser
said.
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- Fast food isn't the only cause of obesity, but Schlosser
says it is one of the factors that is making the United States the fattest
country in the world, with huge costs in health care and mortality that
go along with it. The typical can of soda contains the equivalent of 10
teaspoons of sugar.
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- "Fast food places lure in the kids with toys and
movie tie-ins," Schlosser said. "Parents have to be much more
conscious of what their kids are eating. The first responsibility is for
the parents, and then for the industry to alter their recipes. There's
no reason they can't make a happy meal that's healthy."
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- He contends that unless the food is made healthy,
fast-food
chains should not be allowed to spend millions advertising fatty, unsafe
food for children.
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- Factory Conditions Unsafe
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- Though he used to enjoy fast food hamburgers and fries
as much as anyone, Schlosser said he doesn't go to fast food joints
anymore,
because of what he has learned about the ground meat especially.
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- One of the problems with fast food is that it has created
a "centralized, industrialized food system, which is very vulnerable
to spreading pathogens," he said. Each day in the United States, about
200,000 people are sickened by food borne pathogens (often found in ground
beef). Of those who get sick, 900 are hospitalized, and 14 die
annually.
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- Meat infected with E. coli and other pathogens are
distributed
far and wide because of industrialized production and inadequate government
oversight, Schlosser said. Today's food-processing methods, where parts
of many animals go into one burger, may only increase the odds of
infection.
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- Schlosser cites a 1996 Agriculture Department study that
found 78.6 percent of ground beef samples from processing plants around
the country contained microbes that are spread primarily by fecal
material.
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- Another problem is that fast foodchains tend to hire
unskilled immigrant laborers who end up working in unsafe conditions, but
do not know to ask for improvements. The high demand from fast-food
companies
for meat has led injury rates in slaughterhouses to be three times higher
than those in typical factories, Schlosser said.
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- With his own kids, Schlosser takes his cue from Nancy
Reagan's advice about drugs: "Just Say No." His children, who
are 9 and 11, have stopped begging for fast food.
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