The plot to make Big Food pay

Lawyers are pitching state attorneys general in 16 states with a radical idea: make the food industry pay for soaring obesity-related health care costs. It’s a move straight from the playbook of the Big Tobacco takedown of the 1990s, which ended in a $246 billion settlement with 46 states, a ban on cigarette marketing to young people and the Food and Drug Administration stepping in to regulate…“I don’t think it’s far-fetched at all,” said Kelly Brownell, dean of Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy and one of the most-recognized obesity and nutrition policy experts. “I think it’s quite likely to occur,” said Brownell, though he is not involved in the effort. “It’s probably not something that will happen immediately, but I don’t think it’s that far off.” Read more.