Autism Vox

Amber waves of grain in the Golden Arch’s fries: Lawsuit filed against McDonalds

by Kristina Chew, PhD on October 10th, 2006

A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of an autistic boy in Los Angeles alleging that McDonalds only recently admitted that its French fries contain gluten and casein, as reported in the October 10th Daily Breeze. On February 13th—after the public had been assured that they did not —McDonalds announced that its French fries contained wheat and dairy ingredients. McDonalds had even advertised that its French fries did not contain gluten or casein products. According to the article Suit claims McDonald’s fries worsen autism,

The lawsuit, which alleges fraud, false advertising and negligent misrepresentation by the McDonald’s Corp. and McDonald’s Restaurants of California, seeks restitution of $15,000 for Roman Brown’s medical expenses, along with a share of profits made by the company for the alleged misrepresentation and unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

The plaintiffs also are asking for certification of the lawsuit as a class action on behalf of other autistic children who they allege may have been similarly harmed.

Putting a child on a special diet free of gluten or wheat and casein or dairy products is one biomedical treatment that many parents have tried (with varying results). The lawsuit makes a rather sweeping claim:

“In most cases, elimination of gluten and casein from an autistic child’s (diet) results in dramatic improvements in the child’s condition, often enabling the child to attend mainstream educational programs in a matter of months.”

I do think the diet can be helpful; my own son Charlie was found to have celiac disease. The diet—-while certainly nothing like a cure or “magic pill”—has helped him to (I have to think) feel better (for one thing, gone are the rashes on his cheeks and torso that he had when he was a toddler). But what Charlie eats is only one part of the picture. His education, and the various therapies (speech, OT, and more) and some medication all contribute to helping him lead a good and full life: Just taking certain food products out of his diet has not resulted in Charlie being mainstreamed “in a matter of months” (Charlie has been on the special diet since June of 1999).

I was not happy to hear McDonald’s announcement (see How To Make an Autism Parent Mad). On the other hand, Charlie used to have an elaborate routine involved with visiting McDonalds (especially the ones with a Playplace) and consuming its products (the fries placed just soon in their box in the bag—-the fries having to be eaten (”inhaled”) and then the burger in about five minutes) that, if one step of this routine were varied, he had some equally elaborate tantrums about fifteen minutes after leaving the restaurant.

Perhaps just not going anymore to McDonalds—boycotting, in effect—would be a better way of expressing annoyance and even anger at the Golden Arches for not practicing truth in advertising.

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POSTED IN: Health, Legal Issues, Treatment