Speechless

Suit Seeks to Ban Kids From Eating Oreos

Kids in California may have to give up their Oreos, if a lawsuit filed by a San Francisco public interest lawyer is successful.

The lawsuit, filed last week in Marin County superior court, seeks a ban on the black and white cookies, arguing the trans fats that make the filling creamy and the cookie crisp are too dangerous for children to eat.

Stephen Joseph said he filed the suit against Nabisco, the maker of Oreos, after reading articles that said the artificial fat is hidden in most packaged food, though consumers have no way of knowing.

The big difference between this suit and others that have targeted tobacco and McDonald's fast food is that consumers know that tobacco is bad for their health and that McDonald's food contains a lot of fat, Joseph said.

"Trans fat is not the same thing at all. Very few people know about it," he said, explaining that his suit focuses on the fact that trans fats are hidden dangers being marketed to children.

I hate causes justified in the name of saving children.

Nabisco taken to task over trans fat's effects

Oreo cookies should be banned from sale to children in California, according to a lawsuit filed by a San Francisco attorney who claims that trans fat -- the stuff that makes the chocolate cookies crisp and their filling creamy -- is so dangerous children shouldn't eat it.

Stephen Joseph, who filed the suit against Nabisco last week in Marin County Superior Court, is a public interest lawyer who last battled the city to remove graffiti from traffic signs.

[...]

The suit, the first of its kind in the country, asks for an injunction ordering Kraft Foods to desist from selling Nabisco Oreo Cookies to children in California, because the cookies are made with partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, also called trans fat.

Partially hydrogenated oil is in about 40 percent of the food on grocery store shelves, including most cookies, crackers and microwave popcorn, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

There's much more in the Sfgate link, but I can't bring myself to comment on it.

I feel like taking this guy out on a tour of SanFran and spreading the Oreo Gospel to this jackass.

UPDATE(5/16 midnight)
The outcry has made a difference. The suit will be dropped.

Oreo lovers can breathe a big, fat sigh of relief.

The San Francisco attorney who made news earlier this week for suing Kraft Inc. to stop the sale of Oreos to California children because the cookies are high in trans fat plans to drop the suit today.

The reason? He's drawn so much media attention that he says he's accomplished what he set out to do -- raise awareness about trans fat, a hidden but dangerous substance in processed food.

"You've got to recognize when you've scored a home run," said Stephen Joseph, who filed the suit against Nabisco on May 1 in Marin County Superior Court. "We have raised the awareness of trans fat to the top of the mountain."

It's the new wave of punditry, issues-based lobbying, and personal crusades. File a lawsuit, piss off the country, get your cause in the newspapers. The cynic in me is laughing right along with Mr. Joseph. The rest of me is curious to see how this tactic will be used in the future.

Posted by Drizzten at May 12, 2003 03:28 PM