McDonald's should be Banned

Originally founded by Dick and Mac McDonald as a barbecue drive-in in the 1940s, the McDonald's Corporation now boasts annual profits of more than $21 billion. Known for its signature french fries, the corporation trains more new workers annually than the U.S. Army, and an estimated one in eight Americans has worked for McDonald's. In 1968, McDonald's operated about 1,000 restaurants worldwide, but today it has more than 31,000. The fast-food industry is one of the nation"s largest employers of low and minimum wage workers. According to one group, often the industry workers' pay is not enough and many turn to government programs for assistance. According to the National Employment Law Project's (NELP) newest report, because the fast-food industry pays its workers less than a living wage, U.S. taxpayers must foot the bill in the form of the public assistance programs these workers must use to get by. McDonald"s alone, according to the group, cost taxpayers $1.2 billion last year. Based on NELP"s estimates, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the annual costs of providing public assistance to low wage employees working at the seven largest publicly traded fast-food companies. "What this crisis shows," explained NELP policy analyst Jack Temple, "is that whether or not you work in the fast-food industry or eat fast-food, the industry is costing you. The low wage business model that this industry is based on drains resources from the economy by forcing low-pay workers to rely on public assistance in order to make ends meet." These public assistance programs include the earned income tax credit, SNAP benefits (also known as food stamps), Medicaid, the Children"s Health Insurance Program, and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. The largest of these is Medicaid. "Almost 90% of workers in the fast-food industry do not get health insurance," Temple said. "In addition to being a low-wage business model, it is also a virtually no-benefit business." Let's take a look at the Health Every mouthful of McDonalds meal contains a handful of chemicals that raise 'bad' cholesterol levels, increase diabetes risk, lower immunity, and damage DNA. In fact fast food contains so many harmful ingredients that I wouldn't even feed it to a pet because it would be cruel. When you go to the fast-food drive-through, you are: paying to harm your own health; your children's health; reducing your quality of life because the toxicity of eating synthetic chemicals will trigger illness; put more money into the hands of the medical insurance companies. Still lovin' it? Heard it before? Well despite the illusion of a gradual switch to a healthier menu containing salads and smoothies, McDonald's line-up still contains nasty health-eroding chemicals: trans-fats, high levels of sugar, artificial sweeteners, petro-chemicals, and high-fructose corn syrup. The kids meals and salads also contain frightening ingredients and high levels of sugar. Having perused their menus and nutritional information for their meals, it's incredible what synthetic chemicals they add to salads, chicken meals, burgers, and even to their drinks. Did you know that many of their foods and drinks contain tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ), a chemical preservative that is so deadly that just five grams is fatal? One gram of TBHQ can cause nausea, vomiting, ringing in the ears, delirium, a sense of suffocation, and collapse. McDonald's foods still contain trans-fats, in addition to a whole host of synthetic chemicals to produce a taste which they deliberately engineer to be addictive, so you spend more money with them according to investigations by Eric Schlosser in his book Fast Food Nation. Trans Fat Lie The U.S. Food and Drug Administration decided that a food can contain trans-fats and that the amount doesn't have to be listed on the ingredient or nutrition list, providing the amount is not more than half a gram. Many burgers, shakes, and breakfast meals contain trans-fats. The problems with these oils is that they induce free radical damage in the body, which leads to artery damage, DNA damage, and oxidation of cholesterol, a.k.a. 'bad cholesterol'. You are getting this with every mouthful. Almost all foods on McDonald's menu contain hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils, that are also harmful to the body because they damage your tissues and raise your 'bad' cholesterol. Did you know that if a food manufacturer's food contains less than 0.5g of trans-fats then it doesn't have to legally list trans-fats on the label? Here is just one example of what McDonalds put in their foods. The unhealthful ingredients in McDonalds' Chicken nuggets (straight from the McDonalds' web site) include: sodium phosphates; bleached wheat flour (nutrients removed); food starch-modified (likely genetically-modified); dextrose (sugar); partially hydrogenated soybean oil and cottonseed oil with mono-and diglycerides, (trans fats); Prepared in vegetable oil (Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil) (trans fats); TBHQ, tertiary butylhydroquinone, a petroleum dervived product; Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an anti-foaming agent (a form of silicone used in cosmetics, and Silly Putty). Here's a list of TBHQ Products: Mcdonalds chicken nuggets and french fries have TBHQ Red Robin fast food chain also uses TBHQ in cooking oil CHEEZ-IT Crackers made by Kelloggs have TBHQ Butterfinger chocolate and Resee"s Peanut butter cups has TBHQ Nestle Crunch has TBHQ Wheat Thins contin TBHQ Many brands of Microwave popcorn have TBHQ Pam cooking spray has TBHQ Aldi products have TBHQ Keebler Club crackers contain TBHQ Kellogs eggo frozen waffles and many other kellog products Taco bell beans and some taco shells have TBHQ Teddy Grahams have TBHQ Red Barron frozen pizza has TBHQ Keebler Cookies has TBHQ TastyKake has TBHQ Little Debbie has TBHQ Kellog"s Pop-Tarts - Keebler has TBHQ Girl scout cookies contain TBHQ? Not all of them so better off checking before buying Homestyle Peanut butter cookies has TBHQ Some forms of soymilk have TBHQ Different breads cerals and crackers could contain TBHQ Crisco oil contains TBHQ also many restaurants use TBHQ when they deep fry. Check the oil ingredients before buying it. Some pet foods have TBHQ in them. Many cosmetic products and baby products have TBHQ Lacquers, resins and varnish contain TBHQ your baby crib that your baby maybe putting his mouth on. could contain TBHQ. Some hair dyes lipsticks and eyeshadows contain TBHQ Some peanut butter products contain TBHQ Olive Garden croutons have TBHQ Maruchan soup and Ramon noodles have TBHQ Wrigley"s gum has TBHQ Little Debbies nutty bars and some M&M products have TBHQ KFC beans and fried chicken contain TBHQ The problem with the general populace is they cannot help themselves but to eat only tasty foods even if they know it was unhealthy and fattening. Although the information is available to us, they only know it has fats or some other thing that most foods have. Most people don't research like how I did to find out about McDonald's. Most people don't know what I just put on this report.