Prince Charles calls for 'ban' on McDonald's

[donheld]

http://www.rawstory.com/showarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.timesonline.co.uk%2Ftol%2Fnews%2Fuk%2Farticle1447319.ece

The Prince of Wales threw his weight into the debate about healthy eating today and told a nutritionist that the “key” was to ban McDonald’s fast food restaurants.

The controversial remarks were made as the Prince was in Abu Dhabi attending the launch of a public health awareness campaign aimed at fighting diabetes in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

He visited the Imperial College London Diabetes Centre and watched as a group of children chose from a selection of “good” and “bad” snacks for their school packed lunches.

Talking to Nadine Tayara, a nutritionist from the centre who had put the children through their paces, he asked her: “Have you got anywhere with McDonald’s? Have you tried getting it banned? That’s the key.”

[Kutjara]

1. He's never been the same since he discovered...

...they don't sell McFoieGras.

[GreenZoneLT]

2. Sounds like he's talking about banning it from school lunches

Which is just plain sense. I don't think he's talking about banning the chain itself. Although that might have the salubrious effect of bringing back Wimpy Burger, the late, lamented Brit burger chain.

[niallmac]

4. ...'oh'.....never mind about post #3 then. I agree with Charley

that schools should not be pimping junk food to a young
captive audience that needs not only good nutrition but
good eating habits to survive with.

[Kutjara]

9. Nothing late about Wimpy. They're still going strong.

http://www.wimpyburgers.co.uk/site/flash.htm

[niallmac]

3. I know the food is junk. I saw 'Super Size Me' I know the food is addictive...

but can't we educate people to make better choices instead of engineering the
environment like little goody two shoe nazis?
Don't shield me from my freedom to choose oh Prince of Wales.
On the other hand, every dollar spent convincing me
that tobacco is fun and Mickey D is a great choice
should be balanced with corporate provided funds to educate
us about just what nicotine and fiberless fat fried
crap is all about.

[LeftyMom]

6. And in the UK you can't even do that

If you try to publicly criticize McDonald's, even on well-established grounds such as the food being horrible for your health or an environmental disaster, they'll sue the pants off you for libel and win.

[Kutjara]

10. Except the McLibel Two didn't lose.

http://www.mcspotlight.org/case/

McDonald's threw everything they had against Helen Steel and Dave Morris, and all the company got was a shedload of bad publicity, exposure of their terrible working and employment practices, and an European Court ruling that essentially said the first trial was a sham.

There's lots of good info at the link. The whole story makes incredible reading.

[niallmac]

12. Seriously? I didn't think knee jerk lawsuits were as popular in the UK as here.

[AshevilleGuy]

5. Jolly! And while he is at it,

get them all: Booger King, Taco Smell... And to save jobs convert them all to vegetarian shoppes with no transfat, no processed shit.

Seriously.

[LSdemocrat]

7. I've never understood why McDonald's gets singled out in these discussions

Yes, most of their stuff is unhealthy but so is the stuff at just about every other popular chain restaurant (fast food AND sit down). Also how come snack food companies get off relatively unscathed when they are the ones that are constantly "innovating" by inventing novel new processed foods to keep the world addicted to snacking on crap. Especially insidious are those snack products marked with some claim like "low fat", but are nutritionally just as empty and caloric as the original product.

[T_i_B]

8. Because they are the leading brand

All too often, the left ignores the worst offenders in favour of bashing the big brands such as Nike and Starbucks.

[Robeson]

11. Well, it's a start...

...in the future, I hope he includes some other artery busting chains to go along with McGrease.