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A US consumer advocacy group has filed a lawsuit against McDonald’s, accusing the fast-food chain of using deceptive advertising practices to lure children to the company’s restaurants. The lawsuit, brought by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, accuses McDonald’s of using the promotional toys included in its Happy Meals to get children to pester their parents into bringing them to its restaurants.

The super-sized Queens Democrat seeking a ban on McDonald's Happy Meal toys is himself a cautionary tale on the consequences of scarfing down too many Big Macs, Marcia Comrie said.

"He doesn't do it in front of me -- he knows it's the bane of my existence," she said of her 335-pound husband's fast-food-devouring ways. "But the results are there for anyone to see."

Happy Meal toys and other promotions that come with high-calorie children's meals will soon be banned in parts of Santa Clara County unless the restaurants meet nutritional guidelines approved Tuesday by the county Board of Supervisors.

"This ordinance prevents restaurants from preying on children's' love of toys" to sell high-calorie, unhealthful food, said Supervisor Ken Yeager, who sponsored the measure. "This ordinance breaks the link between unhealthy food and prizes."

The San Francisco ban on providing free toys to entice children to eat unhealthy foods goes into effect Thursday, but McDonald’s plans to comply with the law by charging 10 cents a toy for their Happy Meals and donating the money to the nonprofit Ronald McDonald House.

After delaying the vote so that it would not be a campaign issue, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has now voted to ban toy giveaways in Happy Meals and similar fast-food offerings aimed at kids unless they have reduced sodium, fat and sugar content and include fruit and vegetables.

The popular Buckyballs and Buckycubes magnetic desk toys will be discontinued, its manufacturer said, blaming what it called "baseless and relentless legal badgering" from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. "It's time to bid a fond farewell to the world's most popular adult desk toys," Maxfield and Oberton, the maker of Buckyballs, said on its website this week. "That's right: We're sad to say that Balls and Cubes have a one-way ticket to the Land-of-Awesome-Stuff-You-Should-Have-Bought-When-You-Had-the-Chance."

Santa Clara County in California has just ushered in a sad day for Happy Meals -- by banning them, along with other such promotions for unhealthy kids' meals. But this sad day for McDonald's may lead to many happier ones for all those kids who might now have a better shot at growing up with healthier eating habits. That is, if you believe the ordinance will work -- and don't think the measure is altogether out of line.

McDonald's Corp. has warned federal regulators that it could drop its health insurance plan for nearly 30,000 hourly restaurant workers unless regulators waive a new requirement of the U.S. health overhaul.

Bureaucrats continue to think they can regulate businesses, and also what people can eat and drink. This is outrageous.