NYC bans trans-fats

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...