McDonalds settles Trans Fat lawsuit for $8.5 million

[KurtNYC]

McDonald's has agreed to pay $8.5 million to settle a lawsuit over artery-clogging trans fats in its cooking oils, the company said Friday.

McDonald's said it will donate $7 million to the American Heart Association and spend another $1.5 million to inform the public of its trans fat plans.

The settlement is the result of litigation from a San Francisco-area activist who has been seeking to raise public awareness of the health dangers from the trans fatty acids (TFAs) in hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/02/11/transfats.settlement.reut/

This is in parallel to threatened lawsuits which allege that McDonald's misrepresents the health effects of its food in their marketing efforts (eg. showing athletes eating fench fries). Many have stated that people should not expect healthy food from McDonalds and have scoffed at such suits. However, McDonald's has seen fit to settle this lawsuit and focus more research on how to remove trans fat from their foods.

Trans fat is believed to cause between 30,000 and 100,000 premature deaths in the US each year.