City attorney goes snap, crackle, pop
By: Ken Garcia
Examiner Staff Writer
11/04/09 4:50 PM PST
The reason it's generally better when candidates have opponents in elections is it requires them to deal with the pertinent issues at hand in a campaign rather than spend their free time deciding whether a cereal maker is overstating the number of raisins in its Raisin Bran boxes.
And that will help explain how San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera has been pushing the legal limits recently by challenging Kellogg Co., demanding that its executives stop advertising which suggests people who eat Cocoa Krispies will have their immunity boosted against illness.
That's it - I'm swearing off Fruit Loops.
Herrera won a moral victory when Kellogg's announced that it would remove the claim from their boxes even though the antioxidants it said it adds to the cereal "help the immune system.'' Herrera had opined that the claim amounted to false advertising and was a potential violation of a California fair trade law, and by the lucky charm of the media, the story got picked up nationally.
I don't think one needs a law degree to reach the conclusion that sugary cereals aren't an antidote for swine flu. And anyone who thinks that eating Cocoa Puffs or Frosted Flakes will serve as a health aid deserves the inevitable outcome.
Herrera, who ran unopposed, just got re-elected this week, a sweet feeling I'm sure. But if I were him, I don't think I'd be adding this particular brand of legal expertise to my resume.
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