Six of the world's biggest fast food operators, including Pizza Hut, McDonald's, Burger King and KFC, have received a letter from a top legal activist telling them to put health warnings on their products or face being taken to court.
John Banzhaf, a self-styled "legal terrorist", has already won cases against the tobacco industry. He has now warned chief executives of fast food firms to put up signs their in restaurants saying that scientific studies on animals show that eating fast food can be addictive.
Banzhaf, who also wrote to Wendy's and Taco Bell, said: "A heavy fast-food diet over time blocks the normal mechanism in the brain that produces hormones that tell us to stop eating when we are full."
The Centre for Consumer Freedom, a pressure group sponsored by food companies, responded that Banzhaf, a professor at George Washington University, is "addicted to outrageous PR stunts", and that all the controversial studies had proved was that "rats like cheese".
The centre's director, Richard Berman, said: "These people are tired of chasing ambulances and are now chasing pizza deliverymen. Trial lawyers are manufacturing hysteria to make restaurant and food providers their next cash cow."
Banzhaf won a case against McDonald's for using beef fat in fries it had claimed were vegetarian. However, lawsuits blaming the industry for obesity have so far been thrown out.
Yesterday Banzhaf appeared before a congressional committee in Washington to give evidence against a proposed bill which would give fast food companies some protection from obesity lawsuits.
John Banzhaf, a self-styled "legal terrorist", has already won cases against the tobacco industry. He has now warned chief executives of fast food firms to put up signs their in restaurants saying that scientific studies on animals show that eating fast food can be addictive.
Banzhaf, who also wrote to Wendy's and Taco Bell, said: "A heavy fast-food diet over time blocks the normal mechanism in the brain that produces hormones that tell us to stop eating when we are full."
The Centre for Consumer Freedom, a pressure group sponsored by food companies, responded that Banzhaf, a professor at George Washington University, is "addicted to outrageous PR stunts", and that all the controversial studies had proved was that "rats like cheese".
The centre's director, Richard Berman, said: "These people are tired of chasing ambulances and are now chasing pizza deliverymen. Trial lawyers are manufacturing hysteria to make restaurant and food providers their next cash cow."
Banzhaf won a case against McDonald's for using beef fat in fries it had claimed were vegetarian. However, lawsuits blaming the industry for obesity have so far been thrown out.
Yesterday Banzhaf appeared before a congressional committee in Washington to give evidence against a proposed bill which would give fast food companies some protection from obesity lawsuits.
