[Opinion] McDonald’s Filed as Culprit Causing Corpulence

In the early primitive age when animals were the only staple, men ate them until their stomach became full to survive. Scientists say that due to this irregular eating habit in early years, human body improved the function of accumulating fat inside. Only those who stored a lot of fat inside their bodies were able to survive long after their preys were gone, and inherited the fat accumulation function to their offspring. Not knowing when to find animals to eat again, they had to be fat, or accumulate fat, to survive. Then, things began to change as a new era of food-stuffed refrigerators came.

▷ Humans have had the desire to eat since the very beginning along with the desire to have sex. Yet, hunger is not the only driver when it comes to eating. There are other reasons we eat like stress, boredom and just pleasure of eating. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 2 billion out of the world’s population are obese. The U.S., where cheap food abounds, is called a country of three addictions - alcohol, drug and eating. 64.5% of adults and 15% of teenagers in the country are obese. Obesity causes a number of dieses such as hypertension, heart disease, arteriosclerosis and diabetes. It also makes people more vulnerable to diseases by leading to deficiency of other nutrients than fat. WHO, therefore, regards obesity as a malign `infectious disease.`

▷ The couch-potato lifestyle is believed to be the culprit. Children these days tend to be more sedentary. Spending more time before television and computer, they do not have many chances to exercise. With both of their parents, or the only parent they have, going out for work, children often go to fast food restaurants to eat hamburgers and drink that have a very high level of sugar and calorie. By eating a super-size hamburger, they take as much as calorie they are supposed to have for a day.

▷ 8 obese teenagers recently filed a case in the federal court of Manhattan, New York against McDonald’s, saying the company failed to warn the risk of obesity. McDonald’s is the world’s largest hamburger chain that has 30,000 branches in 121 countries across the world. And the company reasons that an automaker cannot be responsible for a speed ticket a driver gets while driving its brand car. But fast food companies are worrying that they could be the next big target for tobacco-style litigation. The court ruled tobacco companies must pay astronomical amounts of money in compensation, citing they failed to warn the risk of smoking. We are living in an era where corporate responsibility in the society counts as much as individual responsibility.

Hwang Ho-teak, Editorial Writer, hthwang@donga.com