A teenager from Warrington, Pennsylvania, sued 11 Big Food manufacturers, alleging ultraprocessed foods (UPFs), engineered to be as addictive as cigarettes, caused him to develop fatty liver disease, Type 2 diabetes and other health problems.
In a 148-page lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia County, Bryce Martinez, 18, alleges he’s the victim of a “predatory profiteering” scheme by Big Food that seeks to develop and market food to children that is harmful to health, without warning the public of the foods’ dangers.
The lawsuit states that the diseases Martinez was diagnosed with “did not exist in children” before the development of ultraprocessed foods. The lawsuit presents evidence from scientific studies finding that childhood diseases such as obesity skyrocketed with the advent and wide availability of such foods.
A teenager from Warrington, Pennsylvania, sued 11 Big Food manufacturers, alleging ultraprocessed foods (UPFs), engineered to be as addictive as cigarettes, caused him to develop fatty liver disease, Type 2 diabetes and other health problems.
In a 148-page lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia County, Bryce Martinez, 18, alleges he’s the victim of a “predatory profiteering” scheme by Big Food that seeks to develop and market food to children that is harmful to health, without warning the public of the foods’ dangers.
The lawsuit states that the diseases Martinez was diagnosed with “did not exist in children” before the development of ultraprocessed foods. The lawsuit presents evidence from scientific studies finding that childhood diseases such as obesity skyrocketed with the advent and wide availability of such foods.