Fast-food industry is quietly defeating Happy Meal bans

The restaurant industry is quietly — and successfully — fighting back against the enactment of so-called Happy Meal bans, which forbid restaurants like McDonald's to hand out toys with children's meals that are high in calories.

Moving under the radar so stealthily that in some cases local politicians and anti-obesity activists missed it entirely, lobbyists in Florida and Arizona backed successful efforts to take away the power to enact such bans from cities and counties.

In Nebraska, a proposed statewide Happy Meal ban died in February, even before its first legislative committee hearing.

First enacted in the Northern California counties of Santa Clara and San Francisco last year, the bans have won the support of public health activists throughout the nation. A ban is under consideration in New York City, which like California has been aggressive in requiring restaurant chains to post calorie counts and other nutritional information.

Toy bans are meant to discourage restaurant chains from tempting youngsters to consume high-calorie, sodium-laced fried fare that has been linked to soaring levels of obesity in U.S. children.