mr. chairman , i yield myself such time as i may consume . 
mr. chairman , the amendment is substantially the same as the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from texas ( ms. jackson-lee ) xz4001990 , which was defeated on the house floor last year by a vote of 166 to 250 , and it should be defeated again this year . 
this amendment must be defeated because it would gut the bill . 
this amendment , if adopted , would allow anyone to eat as many health bars and drink as many diet shakes as they wanted and then sue the makers of the health bars and the diet shakes for millions of dollars for making them fat when the health bar and diet shake manufacturers had done absolutely nothing wrong . 
the term `` dietary supplement , '' as defined in 21 u.s.c . 
can include just about any food imaginable . 
it is defined in 21 u.s.c . 
321 ( ff ) as `` a product intended to supplement the diet that bears or contains one or more of the following ingredients , '' including `` a vitamin or mineral. '' do we really want to encourage lawsuits by people who get fat because they choose to eat too much food that happens to meet this definition ? 
of course not . 
and that is why this amendment must be defeated . 
the same concept of personal responsibility should apply to anyone who chooses to eat too many health bars or diet shakes , or other similar products , just as it should be applied to anyone else . 
if you want to destroy every company that sells products that help keep our waistlines trim by allowing them to be sued out of existence , then vote for this amendment . 
but if you want to help combat the obesity problem in america , vote down this gutting amendment and preserve the concept of personal responsibility . 
allowing the types of lawsuits this amendment would allow flatly contradicts the advice of our nation 's leading nutritionists . 
listen to the insightful words of dr . 
gerard musante , a clinical psychologist with training at duke university medical center , who has worked for more than 30 years with thousands of obese people . 
he is the founder of structure house , a residential weight-loss facility in durham , north carolina . 
he said the following at a senate hearing on this legislation : `` lawsuits are pointing fingers at the food industry in an attempt to curb the nation 's obesity epidemic . 
these lawsuits do nothing but enable consumers to feel powerless in a battle for maintaining one 's own personal health . 
the truth is , we as consumers have control over the food choices we make , and we must issue our better judgment when making these decisions . 
negative life-style choices cause obesity , not a trip to the fast food restaurant or a cookie high in trans fat . 
`` through working with obese patients , i have learned that the worst thing one can do is blame an outside force to get themselves `off the hook , ' to say it is not their fault and that they are a victim . 
congress has rightly recognized the danger of allowing americans to continue blaming others for the obesity epidemic . 
it is imperative that we prevent lawsuits from being filed against any industry for answering consumer demands . 
the fact that we are addressing the issue here today is a step in the right direction. '' even the chairman of the american council for fitness and nutrition , susan finn , has written that `` although obesity is a serious health threat to millions of americans , lawsuits and fingerpointing are not realistic solutions . 
if you are obese , you do n't need a lawyer , you need to see your doctor , a nutritionist and a physical trainer . 
playing the courtroom blame game wo n't make anyone thinner or healthier. '' section 4 ( 5 ) ( b ) of h.r. 554 makes it clear that obesity-related lawsuits can be brought by anyone who can prove he has suffered harm as a result of a violation of state or federal law , including laws that prohibit deceptive or misleading advertising , by showing they individually and justifiably relied on such deceptive or misleading advertising and such reliance was the proximate cause of their injury . 
so if a manufacturer of a health bar or a diet shake lies concerning the calorie content of the food , and someone relies on that false statement and suffers injury , the person can sue the manufacturer under this legislation . 
but let us not encourage people to sue makers of health bars and diet shakes because they choose to eat too many of them and get fat . 
i urge my colleagues to defeat this amendment . 
mr. chairman , i reserve the balance of my time . 
