hmm, what can i say. im writing this because i like the form of discussion on the ‘outdoor smoking’ topic, but not only did it get a bit off topic, it was already 6 pages before i read it.. a bit late for me to step in 
so heres a little something to have a friendly (that means no blood) arguement about, which was touched on in the smoking thread–someone mentioned a cheeseburger… lol 
in the United States, obescity is the #2 self-inflicted cause of injury and/or death, and is assumed to overtake #1 (you guessed it, smoking) within the next 5 years, some say 3. it has gotten to the point where, after several lawsuits against macdonalds and burger kings for their health-hazardous food (and an RL movie in which a man, after eating macdonalds for a month, nearly killed himself), congress passed an act that said you CANNOT sue a fast-food company for having nearly killed you with their food, on the grounds that you didnt have to eat there. congress has also stated that at no point in the near future are health warnings going to need to be put on “fast-food” either… like they have been with cigarrettes and some alchohols.
and thats just the US… consider the fact that, through poisoning people, macdonalds has achieved a higher gross annual income than most countries have either GNP or GDP. kinda funny, huh?
ok… i threw a couple ideas out there… lets see who throws them back in my face :laugh:
Funny sidenote: Look at the advertising at the bottom of this page.
(Before I posted, it was all burger king ads)
https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/gallery/files/6/2/Untitled1.jpg
Argh! LOL Not another one of these heated debates about to happen! :laugh:
OK- to make my first post on this thread short and sweet…
1). Obesity, eatting nutrient-lacking and fattening foods, and a lack of exercise is certainly as bad for the body as smoking or anything else you can do to ensure that you live a shorter, less healthy and less productive life 
2). Eatting, while holding a central role in a culture/society, is still a personal decision. A society can (and ought to) encourage healthy lifestyle habits across the boards… but as far as regulating something like eatting, well that would become a bit obscene imo. Think of it, sometimes eatting poorly isn’t as simple as a eatting a big fat cheeseburger. Sometimes it’s eatting a ton of carbs, or not enough fruit, etc. etc. Furthermore, what is healthy for one person’s body type is not necessarily going to be as healthy for another… :wise:
3). I do believe that the government should tax unhealthy things… they already have high taxes on cigarettes, alcohol, etc. So ya, why not add some more tax onto those unhealthy restaurants like McDonalds 
:twocents: Sry, wasn’t as short as I hoped it would be
The sad fact is that healthy food is a lot more expensive to source simply because it does not lend itself to massively intensive farming methods.
Schools are providing junk food for our kids, because it is cheaper and many sponsorship deals are negotiated with fast food catering organisations who can for example install coca cola machines in schools on the promise that they will provide a kickback to the school.
Eating may be regarded as a personal choice, but when it comes to feeding children - if you offer bags of candy / sweets to children, they will eat them - oblivious or uncaring of the long term effects a lifestyle of over-consumption will give them.
I believe that where children are being offered poison in the form of chemical laced, fat ridden foods and sugar saturated soft drinks (one can of coke = 10 teaspoons of sugar! :eek: ) then the attitude of the fast food vendors in pitching their products to children eg through TV commercials is morally repugnant :wise:
I believe there are very strong reasons to force fast food companies to stop advertising to children, as quite simply a childhood of junk food is guaranteed to produce obesity and numerous health problems later in life (at a huge cost to society). Unfortunately the fact that congress has intervened to effectively make fast food companies unaccountable for the side effects of their products, shows to what a huge extent the fast food industry can buy political favour.
I would not support banning smoking in parks, but banning fast food advertising to kids and taking junk food away from schools - that would get my vote!
Apologies for the soap box rant!
PS. Yes, I am a vegetarian!!!
[QUOTE=Machman]
Eating may be regarded as a personal choice, but when it comes to feeding children - if you offer bags of candy / sweets to children, they will eat them - oblivious or uncaring of the long term effects a lifestyle of over-consumption will give them.
[/QUOTE]
I disagree. I have a daughter, who unfortunately I am out of contact with, as she is in a different country, and I have no contact details for her
From the age where she was eating “real food” (rather than cans of Baby food), she was regularly given fresh fruit, at least once a day, as a snack or treat
By the time she was 2 or so, when asked what she would like for her snack, she would 99 times out of 100 ask for fruit, rather than a bar of chocolate or a packet of crisps (potato chips)
It’s nurture, not nature in this case. We are told by everyone - media, friends, elders, that children prefer “sweets”, and so we believe it. Children crave sugar it’s true, but the sugar in fruits is more than enough to satisfy them
Oh, another thing I wanted to add to this…
Unfortunately, most governments will not be imposing higher taxes for food from large companies such as McDonald’s… it would be like biting their own hand off. I should do some investigating, but it is safe to say that McDonald’s is one of American’s largest employers, and is one of the few large employers that creates jobs for ppl with little or no education, a lack of English speaking skills, etc. McDonalds also pays its own taxes to the government each year based upon its profits…
So the difficult thing- while I would support raising consumption taxes on such mega-corporations to discourage ppl from eatting there, it would have a serious impact on a nation’s economy at large… so what to do 
For Machman’s reply… yes it is sad to me that so much is targeted towards children. It is even worse when schools choose to endorse products for money (that is an entirely separate issue with the education system however). It should be known that many schools are backing away from that and proving that a school district can choose other routes that are better for the kids and good on the school’s wallet
For commercials… argh… here’s another Svetka rant. I have a young son. He watches no cable television. He does watch public television but that has practically no advertisements and they all seem to be healthy foods (ie yogurt, no-sugar juices, etc). I don’t believe in censoring children b/c we all know that many kids that are censored out of food, tv, music, whatever will just grow up to rebel But I really think that parenting (at home, in the community, parent involvement in schools, etc) can indeed limit the impact of those child-directed advertisements
I too have a daughter who will choose healthy over unhealthy. The problem is that it takes a strong willed parent to encourage children when the mainstream view is that junk food is ok. A lot of parents do not stop to think of the health of their children, this is not made easier by the fact children have such ready access to junk food at schools.
This is particularly problematic in cultures where children are bombarded with fast food advertising.
[QUOTE=Svetlana]
Oh, another thing I wanted to add to this…
Unfortunately, most governments will not be imposing higher taxes for food from large companies such as McDonald’s… it would be like biting their own hand off. I should do some investigating, but it is safe to say that McDonald’s is one of American’s largest employers, and is one of the few large employers that creates jobs for ppl with little or no education, a lack of English speaking skills, etc. McDonalds also pays its own taxes to the government each year based upon its profits…
So the difficult thing- while I would support raising consumption taxes on such mega-corporations to discourage ppl from eatting there, it would have a serious impact on a nation’s economy at large… so what to do
For Machman’s reply… yes it is sad to me that so much is targeted towards children. It is even worse when schools choose to endorse products for money (that is an entirely separate issue with the education system however). It should be known that many schools are backing away from that and proving that a school district can choose other routes that are better for the kids and good on the school’s wallet
For commercials… argh… here’s another Svetka rant. I have a young son. He watches no cable television. He does watch public television but that has practically no advertisements and they all seem to be healthy foods (ie yogurt, no-sugar juices, etc). I don’t believe in censoring children b/c we all know that many kids that are censored out of food, tv, music, whatever will just grow up to rebel But I really think that parenting (at home, in the community, parent involvement in schools, etc) can indeed limit the impact of those child-directed advertisements
[/QUOTE]
It’s good to hear that several schools in your area are standing against the fast food giants!
There is a big awareness campaign here in the UK, led by a (really annoying !)celebrity chef who is actually doing some good in persuading the government to focus more on school dinners. I think we are seeing a consumer backlash against the fast food giants who are having to change their ways - so thats good!
Hey some good has come from this thread! - The fast food advertisers that James Phatal pointed out are now running away! :laugh:
Instead we have links to mysteries (showing the depths of our discussions! )
https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/gallery/files/2/9/2/nofastfood_thumb.jpg[size=1][br]Click to enlarge[/br][/size]
HEY! Come back and fight you cowards!
Yeah, you with the big red curly hair - come back and fight like a clown!!! :laugh:
Leave our kids alone! :wise:
Yeah Machman!
We need to see Ronnie McD…
https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/gallery/files/3/1/6/clownsexowned.jpg
(Sorry MB - feel free to remove this :rolleyes: )
Oh No!
You’ve lowered the tone so much that the fast food advertisers have come back! :laugh: