Rusty Saber: People must learn to take responsibility for actions

Joe McAdoo is former chairman of the communication department at Drury University.

As much as I hate to say "I told you so," I can't help myself. I told you so. From the Rusty Saber archives, I found the prediction I made in the April 17, 2000, issue of SBJ.

Cigarette smokers were successfully suing tobacco companies, claiming to have been unaware that smoking was a health hazard, despite warnings on cigarette packages and media anti-smoking campaigns. I said at the time that this was another illustration of individuals failing to take responsibility for their behavior.

In that column I predicted the next deep-pocket target of the "It wasn't my fault" lawsuits would be the fast-food industry. I said that once "Big Tobacco," had been fleeced by as many victims as possible, the next target would be Big Grease."

Some said I was way off base. Sure I was. Recently, a few lawsuits have been filed on behalf of some overweight people against the fast food industry.

Like the smokers who were shocked to find that the dire health warnings on cigarette packages were right, these plaintiffs are aghast to learn that a steady diet of cheeseburgers with three hamburger patties with special sauce on huge buns, French fries and a milk shake or large non-diet cola actually caused obesity.

Apparently, litigants say they were somehow tricked into eating food loaded with sugar, starch, fat and cholesterol, among other things that might lurk within the food. What did they think was in it?

In my lifetime, the black humor name for cigarettes was first "coffin nails," later it was "cancer sticks." No long-term smoker can claim to have been unaware of the risk. Likewise, no one can claim ignorance of the health risks fast food presents.

The lawsuits will be based on claims that obese folks got that way because they were duped into becoming addicted to fast food. It certainly isn't their fault; it was the fault of "Big Grease," or whatever name media might give the fast food industry.

McDonald's has tried to preempt legal action by announcing their French fries will be cooked in oil that will contain less transfatty acids. Dream on, McDonald's. When the lawsuits begin to flow, diet French fries won't stem the tide.

Forty years ago it was the U.S. surgeon general who first linked cigarette smoking directly to cancer; it is the surgeon general who recently announced that obesity is overtaking tobacco as America's No. 1 killer. Trust me, folks, these initial lawsuits are just the tip if the iceberg. Some jury will award a few million to some hefty victims and the lid will be off the fast-food money pot.

The potential consequences of these legal food fights are much greater than the tobacco cases; a lot more deep pockets are there to be picked. Why stop with the fast-food people? The entire food industry is there to be tapped. Any restaurant selling food with calories is fair game. Any company manufacturing food would be culpable.

Bakery and donut shop owners, stand by with checkbooks at the ready. The ultimate target? Supermarkets.

Unless Americans magically assume a mentality of accepting responsibility for their own actions, I will come back in a couple of years and say "I told you so!"