In an interview with the BBC's Susan Watts, he says: "People assume that if a product is legal to sell, then these people are telling the truth about this product... that's what they thought about cigarettes."
The lawyer's mission is to make companies stick to the letter of existing laws which, he says, regulators have been too weak to enforce. He says that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has merely been writing warning letters.
Around two thirds of Americans over the age of 20 are now obese or overweight, according to the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Hidden sugars in processed food, Mr Barrett says, are part of that problem, and mis-labelling is key. He cites one example: yoghurt from a food company which lists "evaporated cane juice" as an ingredient, a euphemism for "sugar".
His lawsuits are class actions, where the class is defined as every person who purchased one of the misbranded products in the previous four years.
"If it cost a dollar and 25 cents, then the customer is entitled to his dollar and 25 cents back," he explains. "And there's a four-year statute of limitations, so the damages in each of these cases is how much have they sold of this misbranded junk in the last four years."
Barrett claims that some 25% of products are misbranded in the US. So the scale of damages in these casescould easily match the many billions of the tobacco suits.
Quiz 測驗 1. What did the US tobacco companies had to admit about a decade ago?
That they knew cigarettes were addictive.
2. Look at the article. What does Mr Barrett say companies do wrong?
The lawyer says that they misrepresent their products when they say that these are 'natural' and 'healthy'.
3. Is the following statement true, false or not given? Two thirds of Americans are now obese or overweight.
False. The data is about Americans over 20 years old and excludes children and teenagers.
4. What expression in the article means the use of a mild word instead of one that could be hurtful, offensive or, in the case in the article, too revealing?
Euphemism.
5. What expression means 'to have the right to' something?
To be entitled to.
Glossary 词汇表 to take on (someone or something)挑戰 to whet (their) appetite刺激食慾 addictive上癮的，使成癮的 medical costs醫療費用 a settlement和解協議 to file遞交 a case一個案子 a player一個選手（這裏指食品公司） to misrepresent誤導，歪曲 to assume認為 legal合法的 the letter of the law法律條文 regulator監管機構 to enforce執行 to mis-label貼錯標簽 an euphemism委婉語 a lawsuit訴訟 a class action集體訴訟 misbranded貼錯標簽的 to be entitled to有權要求 the statute of limitations訴訟時效 the damages損失 to claim聲稱
