Devoir D'anglais: San Francisco va interdire les jouets de la restauration rapide pour enfants

San Francisco to Ban toys from Fast Food Children’s Meals

In an effort to curb obesity and related illnesses such as, hypertension, diabetes and heart disease, on November 9th 2010, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to forbid toys included in children’s meals at restaurants that don’t meet public health nutritional requirements. The law will go into effect in December 2011. Santa Clara County in California has already approved a similar ordinance that has affected 12 fast food restaurants. This means that give-away toys cannot be included with a children’s meal that has more than 640 milligrams of sodium, 600 calories or more than 35% of their calories from fat. Fruit and vegetables must also be included in the menu. The measure has been greeted with mixed reactions. If the Supervisors, public health officials and activists for healthy food are rejoicing, the fast food industry and some officials and restaurant owners are up at arms. Even if the 8-3 majority vote ensures the enforcement of the law, San Francisco’s Mayor Newscom plans to veto it arguing that self-regulation and parents, not government, should decide what and where their children eat. Just as dissatisfied are the 17 major food and beverage companies that joined the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, a self-regulation effort organized by the Council of Better Businesses. McDonald’s is already sending executives and other representatives to San Francisco to oppose the measure. The company claims that its meals meet government nutritional standards but it has agreed to reduce advertising in schools and promote healthy lifestyles. Fast food owners in the San Francisco area are also worried that families will take their children to other towns

where fast foods are still allowed to include toys in kids’ menus. On the other hand, the San Francisco Supervisors who voted the ordinance, and public health advocates and activists who supported it, hope that other cities and towns all over the USA will follow suit. They claim that their intention is not to harm business, but to work with the fast food industry and incite it to offer healthier food and marketing practices. According to a Federal Trade Commission report in 2008, the fast food industry spent $161 million dollars advertising to children under 12 and around $360 million on toys included with meals, and fast food advertising aimed at children had increased since the industry started promoting self-regulation. Deborah Lapidus, a spokesperson for the Watchdog Group Accountability International, said the ordinance would be a sign to the fast-food industry to phase out its predatory marketing to children at large. If the ban spreads to other cities and towns across the country, the fast food industry may have good reason to be concerned. Parents who take their children to McDonald’s do so because it’s a convenient, relatively inexpensive meal out and a peaceful break, but also because a toy with a meal is a treat and means less nagging. On the other hand, health is more important than 30 minutes (maximum) of peace and quiet, and fast foods can continue to make efforts to improve their fare and respect public health nutritional requirements.

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