BOSTON -- Last week, behind closed doors, veteran attorneys of the tobacco wars taught a class on how to attack what they say is the nation's latest health affliction: fast food.
The session at Northeastern University was as secretive as McDonald's has been about the special sauce on a Big Mac.
Those who attended the class -- about two dozen lawyers, health activists and nutritionists, most of them svelte -- signed affidavits promising not to reveal to the food industry any of the strategies they learned at the symposium: "Legal Approaches to the Obesity Epidemic."
Although the obesity-lawsuit movement is in its infancy, attorneys who won billion-dollar judgments against cigarette makers see similar possibilities in going after companies that sell fat-laden, calorie-loaded fare.
"I think food is the tobacco of the 21st century," said Susan Roberts, who recently graduated from Drake University's School of Law and attended the two-day symposium last month. Roberts, who gave up a restaurant consulting practice to attend law school, said her career goal is to get involved in a lawsuit that holds the nation's fast-food restaurants at least partially to blame for obesity in America.
The food industry is catching on.
Kraft Foods Inc., maker of Oscar Mayer meats, Oreo cookies, Lunchables and other products, said Tuesday that it would reduce the size of its snack foods (while keeping prices the same) and end marketing campaigns in schools in an effort to stem obesity.
"We think it's the right thing to do for the people who use our products," said Michael Mudd, Kraft spokesman. "If along the way these steps discourage a plaintiff's attorney ... that's fine with us."
Meanwhile, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is scheduled today to release a study that it says shows "there is little conclusive evidence" that fast food "is a primary cause of obesity." The study is called "Burgers, Fries and Lawyers: The Beef Behind Obesity Lawsuits."
Regardless of who is to blame, Americans are losing the battle of the bulge.
Since the 1980s, the number of obese adults has doubled to 38.8 million, while the ranks of overweight youths have tripled to nearly 9 million, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
An estimated 300,000 deaths in the United States each year are associated with excess weight, compared with more than 400,000 yearly deaths linked to cigarette smoking and second-hand smoke, the department said.
