The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, the group behind that TV ad equating Big Macs with death, is continuing its war on the fast food industry, asking the mayor of Detroit to stop the proliferation of fast food eateries within city limits.

According to the Detroit News, there hasn’t been a national grocery chain present in Detroit since 2007, leaving the 900,000 people of the city with significantly fewer options for food.

Proponents of the moratorium request say it’s not about policing what people eat, but about trying to make sure that fast food isn’t the only option:

“The city is out of balance,” said Meredith Freeman, Detroit program director for the Fair Food Network, a national advocacy organization based in Ann Arbor. “Detroit should have options just like any other city. If folks choose to go to McDonald’s, that’s their choice. But they should also have good food available for them to be able to make that choice, and that’s what’s missing right now.”

Detroit currently has the fourth-highest rate of heart disease in the country and a 2007 study stated that “unless access to healthy food greatly improves, residents will continue to have greater rates of premature illness and death.”

Wouldn’t it make more sense for the PCRM and other groups to be working with the city and with grocery chains to bring more healthy shopping options into the city rather than trying to limit fast food?

Group aims to ban new fast-food outlets in Detroit [Detroit News]

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