NYC bans trans-fats

[javasaurus]

New York City has passed a ban on trans-fats in restaurants. It will be a few months before it goes into effect, to give restaurants time to adjust.

Here's the article at MSNBC.

They liken it to the smoking bans. However, smoking is banned in many places not to protect the smoker, but to protect the non-smoker. To prevent one person from detrimentally affecting the health of another.

Here, they are regulating what a person eats, trying to force a person to be more healthy. Eating fries doesn't affect the people around you, at least not directly. The question here is, do I have the right to be unhealthy? It's not a simple question. If I'm unhealthy, I will be less productive in society, I will add strain to society's resources, and to my family's resources.

Still, this crosses the line. A better route would be a combination of advertising campaign, education in elementary schools, and disclosure laws (like having dietary information available at restaurants), so consumers become more educated about their choices. Here, they simply took away the choice.

Hmmmm...is lard considered a trans-fat? Maybe we can get McD's to start making real french fries again...

Comments

[dawntreader]

what's funny is that the restaurants that are touting their NON use of trans fat, have merely added OTHER kinds of fat to make up for it. it's still fattening, and there isn't any research to show that exchanging one kind of fat for another is any more or less healthy. we saw a thing on the news about that. i think it was KFC.

but there ya go. Trans Fat! it's the New Carb!

eat in moderation. exercise.

that diet never goes out of style.

[queenmaggie.livejournal.com]

Lard is not a trans fat. It is still saturated, but it doesn't have the extra stuff that actually causes more weight gain, and the supernegative consequences that trans fats do.

[culfinriel.livejournal.com]

It's people! Oh, wait, that's something else.

[xpioti.livejournal.com]

Okay, that prompted a mental hiccup. I did not realize that anybody would actually legislate about non-health-hazard ingredients. I mean, the nutrition and contents labelling is great stuff and lets us know what kind of crap and potential allergens we are (or aren't) eating, but actually legislating against trans-fats? Buh. Wiggy! :)

And just remember, eating 7 sticks of lipstick a day will eventually cause cancer. (I don't remember details, just that this was touted some time in the 70s.)

[javasaurus.livejournal.com]

eating 7 sticks of lipstick a day will eventually cause cancer

So in NY, you cannot buy french fries that were fried in Crisco, but you could have them fried in melted lipstick! Yum!