Liberties reduced further, or "It's good for you, stupid: Part III"

[cryowizard]

Well, they have finally done it -- personal liberties of Americans have been further reduced by a city government agency.

NYC Health Board has issued a fatwah against trans fats, banning them from restaurants on "health grounds".

Trans fats are believed to be harmful because they contribute to heart disease by raising bad cholesterol and lowering good cholesterol at the same time. Some experts say that makes trans fats worse than saturated fat.

First it was smoking in bars. Now they are telling us what we can and can't eat.

I know another very unhealthy food that contains a shit load of all kinds of fats. If you eat a lot of it, it will make you fatter than ever. Your arteries will clog. Your heart will cease and you will die.

That awful food is called ice cream. Expecting a ban on that from our "do-goodie" idiot government any time now.

Next up -- mandatory two hours of gym daily for everyone. It's good for you, stupid!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16051436/

Comments

[rkatsyv.livejournal.com]

So they actually went ahead and did it.
Remember our discussion on TripPeople a few month ago?

[baffled-pumpkin.livejournal.com]

Dim,
trans-fats should not have been used in the food to begin with. I have no idea what kind of idiot approved them as "safe" food additive in the first place.

I think you are misinterpreting. It is not that people like trans fats, consciously use them, and now the they are going to be deprived of their beloved ingredient. As a matter of fact people have no idea how trans-fats taste like. It is an artificial preservative that is being added to food in order to prolong its shelf life. Also, when restaurants/fast food joints do not clean their equipment properly and do not replace cooking oil for the whole day (french fries @ McDonalds, for instance), that oil is being transformed into a trans-fat.
Except for the commercial purpose trans-fats have no other purpose whatsoever. All that NY Health board is saying is "do not add artificial preservatives, clean your equipment and replace oil while you are cooking". It is not about controlling how much fat people consume, it is about removing a dangerous ingredient that again, should not have been approved to begin with. I've known about the danger of trans-fats since childhood, and was shocked when I saw how much they are being used here.

Several decades ago asbestos was used in construction. Then, when its detrimental effect on human health was proved, its use became forbidden. Would you say that prohibiting the use of asbestos is a threat to human liberties? The situation with trans-fats is the same thing, imho

[tatyana1127.livejournal.com]

I am totally agree with Pumpkin. :)

[baffled-pumpkin.livejournal.com]

thank you :)

i actually think that personal liberties were attacked when companies replaced natural fats in products with artificial ones -- for the personal gain at people's health expense, plus didn't much inform the public about dangers associated with that product. yes, the "ingredients" part listed hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils in small letters on the label, but 90% of the population had no idea what the heck it means, and most people still don't know that these are trans-fats.
until last year the companies were obliged to indicate the amount of saturated fat on the label, but not the amount of trans-fat. so, for decades most people had no idea what kind of crap they were consuming.
i noticed one interesting thing -- since the new law went into effect last year, and companies were forced to list the amount of trans-fats on the product label not just by ingredient name (which most people cannot recognize, of course), but explicitly saying "Trans-Fat -- so many gramms", most manufacturers stopped using trans-fats altogether, cz once people became aware of what is in the food, they stopped buying it.

but with restaurants -- it is a different story. they don't list ingredients on the menu, and people have no control over which oil is being used for cooking their dinner.