The US House of Representatives has overwhelmingly approved legislation nicknamed the "cheeseburger bill" that would block lawsuits blaming the food industry for making people fat.
Approved on a bipartisan 276-139 vote, the bill came up one day after health officials announced that obesity was on the verge of surpassing tobacco as the leading preventable cause of death in the United States and urged people to exercise more and eat a balanced diet.
The bill has backing from the White House and much of the food industry. "This issue isn't about any one restaurant or any particular food, it's all about personal responsibility and individual decisions," Ms Lisa Howard, a spokeswoman for McDonald Corporation said in a prepared statement. The world's largest fast-food company was the target of a fat suit by teenagers that was twice dismissed in federal court.
Backers of companion legislation in the Senate said they hoped the big victory in the House would give it momentum. However the bill does face hurdles in the Senate, which has often blocked House-passed measures that would cap legal damages or protect certain industries from lawsuits.
The "Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act" would prevent what the bill calls frivolous lawsuits against makers, distributors or sellers of food and nonalcoholic beverages arising from obesity claims.
Backers said it is needed to protect the industry against what they said could be an organized onslaught of lawsuits in which trial lawyers urge fat people to look for someone to blame.
The congressional debate comes as public health officials have sounded the alarm about the number of fat Americans - including growing numbers of children.