sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/05/12/OREO.TMP
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. He took up the trans fat battle after reading about the dangerous artificial fat in several stories published by The Chronicle that showed how trans fat is hidden in many of the popular snack foods Americans eat. Joseph also believes his father's death from heart disease was caused in part by a lifelong diet of margarine and other foods made from trans fat. 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. But doctors and government researchers believe it is linked to several debilitating diseases and might be one of the worst ingredients in the American diet -- in part because we eat so much of it without knowing. The Institute of Medicine, a branch of the National Academy of Sciences, last summer confirmed that trans fat is directly associated with heart disease and increases in LDL cholesterol, the kind that can clog arteries. Because of that, the institute report said there is no safe amount of trans fat in the diet. Prompted by those findings, and after being petitioned by health advocates, the Food and Drug Administration decided to force food manufacturers to list trans fat among the other fats and nutrients printed on the side of food packages. Even products marked "low in cholesterol" or "low in saturated fat" might have high levels of trans fat. Providing information about trans fat on labels could prevent 7,600 to 17,100 cases of coronary heart disease and 2,500 to 5,600 deaths every year -- not only because people would be able to choose healthier foods but because manufacturers could choose to reduce trans fat amounts rather than list high levels on nutrition panels, the FDA has estimated. The Oreo lawsuit differs from consumer lawsuits against tobacco, and more recently, fast-food giant McDonald's, Joseph said. Joseph said his suit is about the hidden nature of trans fat and the marketing to children. That's what makes it different from a class-action suit filed earlier this year against McDonald's on behalf of an obese New York man. Legally, Joseph is relying on a provision in California law that says companies aren't liable for a commonly used but unhealthy product if it is well-known in the community that the product is unsafe. In particular, he mentions a school-based program called the Oreo On-line Project, which involves stacking Oreos as high as possible without toppling the tower. In 2002, more than 326 schools and classes around the country participated, according to the Oreo Web site. Nabisco officials, who Joseph said will likely be served with the suit this week, weren't immediately available for comment. They will have 30 days from the May 5 filing date to respond. Debra Bowen, a leader in state nutrition-reform legislation, called Joseph's choice of the California product liability law to go after food makers who use trans fat a unique approach. Graffiti Busters and sued the Department of Parking and Traffic to try to get the agency to remove graffiti from its parking and traffic signs.
|
http://csua.com/feed/