JUST IN time for the Labor Day weekend s picnics and beach parties, the U.S. government has informed millions of formerly healthy Americans that they are fatties. Its edict on obesity moved 30 million unsuspecting Americans into Lardville. It also succeeded in declaring wartime veterans who smoked government-issued cigarettes suddenly guilty of willful misconduct, putting them in danger of losing health benefits. The most famous purveyor of hamburgers is now a merchant of death. To me, there is no difference between Ronald McDonald and Joe Camel, says Yale psychologist Kelly Brownell.
Children can become dependent on caffeine, the magazine warns.
Those of us in the hospitality industry have obvious reasons for concern. There is no doubting the coercive nature of this crusade. The Journal of the National Cancer Institute reports that low-fat activists hope to bypass the excruciatingly arduous and long path that anti tobacco advocates had to travel before warnings about the hazards of smoking took hold. The new wars on caffeine and fat are mirror images of the anti-tobacco crusade, which serves as their guide. Both are brimming with hysteria.