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Michael Riess

Lee

AP English III

2/17/2008

Sheep for Slaughter

According to Eric Schlosser, author of New York Times BestsellerFast Food Nation,

Americans now spend more on fast food than computers, computer software, new cars, or higher

education. Fast food chains actually bring in more money than books, magazines, movies,

newspapers, videos, and recorded music combined. From 1970 to 1971, the amount spent by

Americans on fast food grew by over 1,800 percent, from $6 billion to $110 billion. Because fast

food is such an integral part of our lives, it affects us and those around us directly and indirectly;

therefore, it is vital we ensure its place in society is helpful and not harmful (Schlosser 3).

With so many Americans eating fast food on a regular basis, health risks have become a

major concern of nutritionists and doctors. Obesity is often the first concern that many associate

with fast food, and justly so. More than half of all American adults and about one-quarter of all

American children are now obese or overweight...According to James O. Hill, a prominent

nutritionist at the University of Colorado, 'We've got the fattest, least fit generation of kids ever'

(240). With so much money being spent on fast food, it is not difficult to estimate where a lot of

that obesity comes from. To make matters worse, if the food doesn't make the consumer fat, it

might kill them. Every day in the United States, about 200,000 people become sickened due to a

foodborne disease, and fourteen of those don't survive (195). That means that in a school of

1,500 students, at least one student per day would become sick because of something he or she

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ate.

With the shifting focus to the environment by today's generation, fast food nations have

quickly taken on artificial guises to appear green - but often not doing much more than hiding

what is convenient and acting only when necessary. In Lexington, Nebraska, IBP promised that

their new meatpacking plant would not foul the air, and if it could be smelled at all, would

produce a sweet smell. While this may have been true in that the meatpacking plants didn't

directly cause any odor, the wastewater lagoons they produced certainly did. The amount of

hydrogen sulfide produced by those lagoons is so great that it can cause headaches, respiratory

problems, and even permanent damage to the nervous system (165). In the 1990s, McDonalds

came under fire from environmentalists for it's use of polystyrene. As a result, they discontinued

it's use in the United States. Polystyrene is still used to package it's products overseas (268).

While the environmentalists may have declared it a victory, it was nothing more than a shallow

move that did little to actually protect the environment.

Even more disturbing than the environmental effect is the power that fast food chains

have over the economy. Bribery and lobbying efforts are made evident as early as in the 1972,

during President Nixon's reelection campaign. In an attempt to help push a bill that would lower

the minimum wage, Ray Kroc, owner of the McDonald's franchise, donated $250,000 to Nixon's

campaign. The bill passed, and the minimum wage was lowered by a fifth (37). The fast food

industries have also found a way to piggy-back government incentives meant for the

development of small businesses to fund it's own expansion. Franchisees can take an interest free

loan from the Small Business Administration to cover the cost of opening the new restaurant,

allowing the franchise to further expand it's empire at the expense of the taxpayer and the

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franchisee (102).

With a large industry comes a large workforce, although not necessarily a well-cared for

one. Workers of fast food restaurants and their suppliers are frequently subject to unfair

agreements, poor management and dangerous working conditions. Some of the most brutal

workplace injuries occur in meatpacking plants, yet very little is done to protect the safety of

those who work in them. In one plant Liberal, Kansas, one single blood collection tank was the

cause of five sanitation worker deaths on two separate occasions. The punishment for National

Beef's negligence? $480 per head (178). Management at certain fast food restaurants also

developed ways to cut labor costs in order to receive productivity bonuses. Some of these illicit

methods included forcing workers to clean the restaurant on their own time, requiring them to

wait for the restaurant to get busy before they clocked in, and even forging time cards to

misrepresent the number of hours actually worked. Some workers lost up to half of their earned

pay (75).

The consumer often doesn't realize how much power they wield. The decisions of an

organized group of customers can make or break any business. Any consumer of fast food

products needs to consider not just the immediate effects of what they are doing to themselves,

but the longterm support of a system that affects nearly everyone in America in one way or

another. It is not the government's job to regulate every move a fast food company makes. It is

up to the consumer to hold themselves ethically and morally responsible for their actions, lest the

dire consequences of ignorance and negligence be wrought. In the words of Winston Churchill,

The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is

coming to a close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences