Lawsuit Seeks To Ban Sales of Oreo Cookies To Children (California)

[Pink Space Biscuit]

Banning Oreos

I just felt like copying and pasting an entire news article before Darktooth.

SAN FRANCISCO (May 13) - 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.

Nabisco officials were not immediately available for comment. They have 30 days from the May 5 filing date to respond to the suit.

The National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine, which advises the government on health policy, said last summer that this kind of fat should not be consumed at all. It is directly associated with heart disease and with LDL cholesterol, the 'bad' kind that accumulates in arteries.

But the U.S. Department of Agriculture said partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, which contain trans fats, are present in about 40 percent of the food on grocery store shelves. Cookies, crackers, and microwave popcorn are the biggest carriers of trans fats, which are created when hydrogen is bubbled through oil to produce a margarine that doesn't melt at room temperature and increases the product's shelf life.

The Food and Drug Administration has tried to force food companies to list trans fat content with other nutritional information on food packages, but manufacturers have challenged the rule. Even food labeled ``low in cholesterol'' or ``low in saturated fats'' may have high percentages of trans fats.

Informing customers about trans fats on food labels could prevent 7,600 to 17,100 cases of coronary heart disease and 2,500 to 5,600 deaths per year, the FDA has estimated.

Joseph said he has targeted Nabisco because, while other major snack food makers have reduced the amount of trans fats in their products, Nabisco has not.

 

[p0ink]

Lawsuit seeks to ban sale of Oreos to children in California
Nabisco taken to task over trans fat's effects

Kim Severson, Chronicle Staff Writer Monday, May 12, 2003

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.

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.

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.

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. But the rule has been challenged by food manufacturers. A final version is pending.

As it stands, U.S. consumers have no idea how much trans fat is in food because it isn't required on nutrition labels. 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.

"Tobacco is well known as an unsafe product. Trans fat is not the same thing at all. Very few people know about it," he 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. (That suit was thrown out in February.) Joseph's suit does not focus on obesity or on the choices adults make when they eat, he said.

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.

"But this product, trans fat, is not commonly known to be unsafe," he said. "That's why trans fat is a far stronger case than tobacco or McDonald's because people know those are dangerous."

In his suit, Joseph cites the Hanover, N.J., company's Nabiscoworld Web site, with its games for children.

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.

"This is a FUN way to teach your students math, measurement, working as a team and more," the Web site says.

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.

State Sen. 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.

"Anything that brings people's attention to how dangerous and unhealthy trans fat can be is probably a good idea, because most people who go to the grocery store and see a bag of cookies or chips pitched as 'low fat' probably assume fat is fat," she said. "As the FDA confirmed last year, that's definitely not the case when it comes to trans fat."

Joseph, a former Washington, D.C., lobbyist who has been practicing law since 1980, has worked on several other business issues, including tax credits, aviation and energy and successfully sued ITT. He most recently formed S.F. 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.

In addition to the Oreo suit, he has formed a nonprofit corporation called BanTransFats.com, Inc. and has printed T-shirts that read, "Don't Partially Hydrogenate Me."

The Associated Press contributed to this report. / E-mail Kim Severson at [email protected].

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/05/12/OREO.TMP

 

[WODIN]

Good! Keep these little fat asses from getting too damn big. If not they won't be able to get into the whirly ball car and push the peddle.

 

[p0ink]

Good! Keep these little fat asses from getting too damn big. If not they won't be able to get into the whirly ball car and push the peddle.

yes! more and more legislation is ALWAYS the answer.

 

[OKIE]

What a dipshit! How many children are buying Oreos anyway? The parents are the ones buying them, and there isn't anything they can do about that.

 

[WODIN]

yes! more and more legislation is ALWAYS the answer.

LOL!!

My wife and I actually think this is a stupid lawsuit. I'm out to bust on whirly ball so be prepared for gads of refernces about it from me.

 

[SV2]

they should be banned... along with nature boy..

 

[The Whole F/N Show]

No more Bryant Gumble? Damn!!!!

 

[manny78]

Wilkome to di People's Republik of Kalifurnia !

 

[circusgirl]

easy - just ship all those spare oreos over here.

I need some more bulking food to maintain my avatar figure (burp!).

We need a "fat guy burping" smiley BTW.

Whe I was a kid if someone had tried to ban cookies I woulda been the first kid to organise a street protest lol.