Last Wednesday a lawsuit was argued in New York City’s U.S. Courthouse suing McDonald’s for contributing to the obesity of Americans.

The class-action complaint stated that about 300,000 deaths a year in the United States occur that are associated with obesity. The case argues that McDonald’s is a leading factor responsible for children becoming obese and suffering health problems related to their weight because the company has failed to provide warnings about eating too much fast food.

As ridiculous as this lawsuit is, it so adequately displays the mentality of Americans in this day and age. “Let’s just blame our problems on someone else, and sue them.”

It simply is not McDonalds’ responsibility to monitor what people eat. It is parents who should be responsible for teaching their children proper eating habits. Just because parents are not doing their job does not mean that restaurants and other business in the food industry are responsible for picking up the slack.

Common sense tells us that eating an extreme amount of anything is usually unhealthy. Let’s use marshmallows as an example. If someone just ate marshmallows day and night for an extended period of time his or her health would probably suffer as well, but the thought of the person suing the marshmallow company is ludicrous. The same can be said about the lawsuit blaming McDonald’s for obesity.

So how do we curb obesity among children? Why not teach better health and nutrition classes in schools, or offer more free parenting classes that include nutrition tips? There are many positive steps that can be taken to curb the problem. Suing McDonald’s is not one of them.

University Wire — California State University, Long Beach