by Amelia Danielle

Created on: April 25, 2008

Walk past a liquor store, or through a supermarket and your bound to catch a glimpse of at least one or two signs near the tobacco or alcohol sections. While not always entirely specific, the basic jest is to warn the public that smoking and drinking can and will cause long term health problems. It's the law, although it's also considered to be something of a courtesy. But with all of our health conscious, Eco-friendly strides towards being a healthier world; why haven't there been further attempts at regulating the fast food industry? Where are the Sergent general warnings for greasy burger consumption?

One can argue that fast food in America is part of our legacy. Ask anyone from across the pond and they're sure to tell you that one of the prime temptations of visiting the states is the appeal of so many cuisines at your finger tips and ready for your enjoyment in a matter of minutes. Fast food restaurants from America have even filtered into some of the more traditional regions of the world, like the MacDonald's that recently opened in Iraq. Never mind whats in it, fast food is practically what America as we know it today has been built on.

I'll give it to them, fast food chains have taken steps to offer healthier choices. Providing fresh fruits in kids meals, offering grilled chicken sandwiches on wheat, light dressings and bottles of water. It helps to walk up to the menu and be tempted by something other than a big juicy half pound hamburger staring you in the face. What also might help, though, is a warning label. Remind people that consuming certain foods offered at these places can lead to obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart attack and an array of other conditions leading right up to an early death. Of course, the food and drug administration probably realizes that this would run the risk of putting a hole in the profits of these restaurants. But exactly how much money do these corporations need to make at the hands of the American people? It's not as if these restaurants are targeting the upper class. Their add campaigns center around the premise of being affordable, featuring "dollar menus" and showing broke college students in too much of a hurry to eat a 45 cent apple. These establishments line the streets of lower class neighborhoods and post billboards displaying their latest 99-cent invention. While the mid to upper class are graced with delicatessens, fresh fruit stands, vegan and whole food markets and general organic and low fat options at every turn.

If we truly want to better ourselves as a society, and extend the life expectancy of us and our children, then we should stop at nothing to make sure that healthy is not an option, but the only choice. Everything from drugs to seat-belt use is regulated by our dear government and legislatures, why then is not the most important aspect of our health; our nutrition? A warning label on the outside of MacDonald's will definitely not kill anyone, the alternative, however, will.

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