Lawsuit Filed to Stop the
Marketing and Sale of
Oreo Cookies to Children

PRESS RELEASE 1may03

[AP article]

A new non-profit corporation, BanTransFats.com, Inc. (“BTF”), filed a lawsuit today asking for an injunction ordering Kraft Foods to cease and desist from marketing and selling Nabisco Oreo Cookies to children in the State of California, because such cookies contain partially hydrogenated soybean oil. The lawsuit has been filed purely in the public interest and no money damages are being sought. It is the first anti-trans fats lawsuit in the nation.

Partially hydrogenated oils are trans fats. Oreo Cookies, including the reduced fat version, contain partially hydrogenated soybean oil, which is a trans fat.

BTF states in the lawsuit that partially hydrogenated oils are unsafe and unfit for human consumption, because they cause serious lowering of HDL (good) cholesterol; a marked increase in LDL (bad) cholesterol; major clogging of arteries; a substantial risk of Type 2 Diabetes; and other serious health problems.

Stephen Joseph, who is the founder of BTF and the attorney who filed the suit, says, “trans fats are put into food products to increase shelf life, but they shorten human life. Trans fats are not edible food.”

Presently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) approved “Nutrition Facts” label on food packaging does not mention trans fats at all. However, based on the recent alarming scientific and medical findings about trans fats, the FDA in November 2002 took the position that intake of any food product which contains a trans fat “should be a low as possible,” and that such a warning should be stated on the Nutrition Facts label. There is no other food ingredient that merits such strong concern by the FDA.

There are recommended maximum daily allowances for total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium on the Nutrition Facts label. For example, the label states that 25 grams of saturated fat can be consumed daily as part of a 2,500 calorie diet. However, the FDA has refused to set a maximum recommended daily allowance for trans fats, because the only safe level is zero.

Kraft has resisted the FDA’s proposal regarding trans fats labeling, stating that such labeling will “mislead consumers and may result in food choices inconsistent with public health goals.'' Joseph describes Kraft’s objection as “self-serving nonsense” and an “insult to everyone’s intelligence.”

Joseph points out that an available alternative is to use palm oil, which another manufacturer uses to make a competing brand of Oreos, and that there are other alternatives too. “Kraft does not need to put trans fat in the Oreo.”

Frito-Lay is completely eliminating trans fats from Doritos, Tostitos and Cheetos and is converting to corn oil, a trans fat-free oil. Even McDonald’s is reducing by 47 percent the level of trans fat used in its French fries, which Joseph says should be eliminated completely. But Kraft has made no announcement that it will eliminate trans fat from Oreo Cookies.

Joseph says that Kraft specifically targets children, including infants and toddlers, in its marketing of Oreos. “The marketing is designed to make the product appear to be fun, tasty, desirable and safe.” He says that young children have no ability to understand that there is a dangerous ingredient in Oreo Cookies and that Kraft has a moral and legal responsibility to provide them with a safe product that does not contain trans fat.

source: http://www.bantransfats.com/pressrelease.htm 12ma03