By Lubna Abdel-Aziz Are the inhabitants of planet Earth hopelessly divided by race, religion, borders, and language, or are they totally united in their views, news, tastes and diets? With our accelerated media devices, our borders are rapidly crumbling, oceans are drying up, and the planet is slowly shrinking to the size of that famous "village". Our daily cultural diet of international news headlines, films, TV, rock and roll and hip-hop, is only matched by our habitual submission to our fashion gurus of Paris, Milan and New York, not to mention the myriad versions of the American-born "blue jeans". There is more! Scientists believe that the "Cocalisation" of the human race as well as its many McFoods and French fries, has led to a serious obesity epidemic that defies all borders, barriers, colour and creed. What have we done to our planet Earth? Our ancestors respected and honoured it, hunting their meat, planting their crops. We have invented the Fast Food Industry (FFI) which has infested the world from north to south, from east to west, and may well end up by destroying its inhabitants. Could it perhaps be a conspiracy between the FFI and a highly intelligent alien group, who wish to vacate this planet of its earthlings, in order to populate it themselves? Their method of extermination is slow, systematic and delicious. We are eating and drinking our way to our graves, but we shall die satiated, with a satisfied smile on our lips, and our stomachs full of a cocktail of ingredients, only heavens knows what, which we call "the hamburger". Why should such a seemingly healthy diet, kill us, poor earthlings? The answer is found in one word -- taste, provided for us by trans fats, which our FFI has exploited in their products, over-feeding us with it at every turn. Trans fats are industrially created fats, harmful substances, devoid of nutritional value, consisting of partially hydrogenated oils which give us the taste we crave. FFI is only willing to oblige, granting us our wishes, for tasty, hasty, fatty, foods. A Harvard study concluded that a near elimination of artificially produced trans fats would result in six-19 per cent reduction of the 1.2 million coronary related deaths that occur annually, in the US alone, Professor Walter Willet of Harvard proposes a ban on trans fats as we are not evolutionarily equipped to handle them. A best-selling book written by Eric Schlosser Fast Food Nation (2001) exposes the sins of FFI. Although it targets the US consumer, the book speaks to the world at large, since we have all become much too fond of consuming American "junk" food. Enraged and threatened, the FFI, waged a wicked war against the author attacking him personally and professionally. The result was increased book sales, publication of several other books on the subject and a film version of the best seller Fast Food Nation. A long feature film directed by Richard Linklater, starring Ethan Hawke, Patricia Arquette, Fast Food Nation was an official selection in the Main Competition at the recent Cannes Film Festival. The movie, cleverly transforms a factual non-fiction book into a fictional feature that follows three-story lines. It examines how a cow ends up becomes a hard-to-resist hamburger. One particular graphic scene is set in a real slaughterhouse in Mexico, leaving the viewer most unhappy with his "Happy Meal!" The film is not recommended for youngsters who dig more teeth in "Big Macs" than any other age group. Undaunted, Eric Schlosser has just released Chew on This, another bestseller directed at "tweens" revealing the perils that lie between their favourite sesame seed bun. Other books on the subject are also selling briskly like Jamie's School Lunch Project, by British Chef Jamie Olivier, The Omnivore's Dilemma by professor Pollan of UC Berkley, and What to Eat by Marion Nestle of New York University. Poor FFI, what are they to do; after all they do love kids, and kids love their fast foods. How can they survive without the kids' support. There is more bad news for the industry. The Disney Company, which prides itself for being family friendly, has severed relations with McDonald's, wishing to distance itself from anything that would seem harmful to children. The end of the Happy Meal partnership with Disney is first in a series of studio break-ups. Following Schlosser's advice to distance themselves from the FFI, other film production companies are noting that junk food loaded with trans fats may be too hot to handle, as more children are suffering from obesity. This is putting pressure on McDonald's to provide more healthful fare, such as fruits and salads. A little known fact is that the largest selling toy company in the world is McDonald's. It sells one billion toys annually. One of every three toys in the United States is sold by McDonald's. The problem of obesity in children has crossed the US border and now presents a danger to children the world over -- the main culprit, fast foods. The globalisation of the FFI has been instrumental in the spread of obesity, even in China and Japan, countries that have never experienced such a problem until the arrival of fast foods. Schlosser's and other authors' long and persuasive effort should be a global alert against a killer epidemic, determined to exterminate the human race, no less lethal than an avian flu epidemic, but perhaps a lot more enjoyable. How is it that despite our degree of intelligence and technological savvy, we insist on spending billions in poisoning ourselves with the wrong foods, and then spending more billions on scientific and medical research to discover ways and means of curing ourselves from these poisons. Maybe we do not deserve to inhabit this bountiful and beautiful planet after all! Quod me intrit me destruit -- Christopher Marlowe (1564- 1593)
