041148 Fast-Food Critic Says He Feels Threatened

Muncie, IN - Three years after publication of his book Fast Food Nation, freelance journalist Eric Schlosser remains fearful that McDonald's is going to sue him any day. And that's not all he's afraid of.

Schlosser was escorted by linebacker-sized Ball State University police Cpl. Alvin Tank, armed with a 9-mm semi-automatic handgun, into a classroom at Pittenger Student Center for a question-answer session with six students. An officer accompanied the author everywhere he went on campus.

"It's kind of embarrassing that I have to have security," Schlosser said. "To me, it's a symptom of what's wrong with this country at the moment. My book has inspired some people to call me a socialist or communist or un-American. We had a Civil War in this country, and when you look at how other countries fly apart, it's because people start being called traitors, un-American, and demonizing one another. That's very, very dangerous."

Despite being a best seller, the book had no impact on the fast food industry, according to Schlosser. In fact, the conditions he wrote about - the childhood obesity epidemic, food safety, and the exploitation of slaughterhouse and fast-food workers - have worsened, he said.

Amanda Carpenter and several other conservative student protesters handed out free McDonald's burgers and fries at the front doors of Emens Auditorium the night before Schlosser's speech to hundreds of students, faculty and townspeople. The protesters also distributed pamphlets, one of which depicted Uncle Sam in his "I Want You" pose. "Eric Schlosser told me you were too fat!" the pamphlet read. "Put down that chicken tender, fatty!"

Carpenter has criticized Ball State for paying Schlosser a speaking fee of $15,000 in addition to spending $20,262 to buy copies of Fast Food Nation for all freshmen. (Schlosser says he will give the $15,000 to the Institute for Transplant Awareness). Carpenter has called the book an attack on agriculture, corporate America, and capitalism by an extremely radical leftist.

Four BSU patrolmen plus Schlosser's police escort were assigned to provide security during his speech at Emens. That's three more officers than are normally assigned to speakers at Emens.

The audience applauded when Schlosser said: "If you think you know all the answers at age 19 or 20, you are either a genius or a fool. What we all need on each side of the political spectrum is a sense of humility, even a slight admission that maybe we're wrong."

The author received perhaps his loudest applause of the evening when he accused the fast-food industry of using advertising and toys to encourage young children to eat large quantities of unhealthy food - such as salty, fatty, Teletubby-shaped Chicken McNuggets - that will permanently impact their lives.

"And that's where I think the government does have a role," he said. "We don't let the alcohol companies sell beer to children, we don't let the tobacco companies sell tobacco to children "

Carpenter and other critics of the "food police" say citizens don't need the government to dictate what is good for their children because they can simply turn off the television or choose not to buy unhealthy foods.

"We are talking about the children of America being targeted by these companies and developing habits that may lead to lifelong poor health," Schlosser said. "Last year, the Centers for Disease Control released a study suggesting that of kids born in the year 2000, one out of three will develop diabetes. This population of unhealthy people is going to cost us a fortune. This is a public health disaster."

Jason Kirton, a freshman from Kokomo, said he didn't realize until reading the book that fast-food restaurants like McDonald's relied on high employee turnover to remain profitable.

"I never thought a company would want short-term employees but they do," Kirton said. "If they're short-term employees in their teens and twenties they can't form unions and gain benefits."

Kirton also said he didn't know that fast food came from what Schlosser described as "bloody, disgusting," meat-packing plants employing illegal immigrants who live in basements. In Texas, immigrant workers injured in slaughterhouses are not eligible for workmen's compensation, and they can be - and are - fired for being injured, Schlosser said.

The meat-packing industry essentially controls the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the author said.

"The minimum wage right now, adjusted for inflation, is the lowest it has been since 1950," he told the Emens crowd. "The fast-food industry is the single-largest employer of minimum-wage labor in the United States."

Why is Schlosser fearful of being sued by the fast-food industry? Because he remembers television talk show host Oprah Winfrey having to spend millions to successfully defend herself against Texas cattlemen who sued her after a show on mad cow disease.

Why is he fearful of being attacked during public appearances? Partly because of an incident he declined to discuss on the record. "I haven't even told my children about it," he said.

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