Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is co-sponsoring a so-called “cheeseburger bill” in the U-S Senate, after a similar measure passed in the House. The legislation is designed to protect restaurants and food companies from lawsuits filed by people who say they got fat eating certain meals. Grassley says when you go in to eat “common ordinary everyday food…and you want to sue because you eat too much, I don’t have any sympathy for ’em. I think those lawsuits are wrong.” Many have drawn comparisons between these lawsuits and those against the tobacco industry, but Grassley says there’s a key difference. He says tobacco companies were lying about whether their products were addictive, adding chemicals to their products to make them more addictive, then lying to Congress about it. As for fatty food, Grassley says these lawsuits are frivilous. Two cases filed against McDonalds accuse the burger chain of causing thousands of American children to get fat. Grassley says people need to assume responsibility for their own actions. Grasssley says “If you eat, become fat, get obese, there’s two things you can do: keep your mouth shut, in other words, don’t shove so much food into it, and do a lot more walking.” About a dozen states, but not Iowa, have enacted “cheeseburger bills” but Grassley says federal legislation on the issue would cover all such cases and free other states from the need to act. Grassley, who will turn 71 next week, says he runs two miles a day and ran a 5-K race in Waverly over the weekend.
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