Newspaper Column: Fast Food and Seatbelts

Abstract

At our own meals, we are free to eat in moderation or to overeat and grow obese. In our own car, we are free to buckle our seat belt to increase safety or to risk injury by failing to take time to buckle up. But these seemingly obvious certitudes have come under challenge. Two New York girls have taken McDonald’s to court, claiming damages for obesity-related health problems brought on by excessive consumption of food at McDonald’s. In Richmond, Governor Mark R. Warner (D) has sought passage of a bill making it a primary criminal offense in Virginia to ride in a car without a buckled seat belt.