NYC Bans Trans-Fat

New York City in a controversial move today decided unanimously to ban the use of Trans-Fat at restaurants. Restaurants will have six months to initiate the changes to their menus.



Little by little the governing bodies in this great nation are chipping away at our freedoms and stepping into our personal lives. Soon we will not even notice that Big Brother has control of all the strings. "So we have to do it for them..." This is reckless abuse of power.
Being in the healthcare field I see exactly what happens to people at their worst. But it should still be their choice. I also oppose the seat belt laws in many states. Even though wearing a seatbelt can save your life, you hurt no one when you don't wear one. This new ban is in the same arena.

To give up freedoms on the premise of "safety" is insanity.

Related News Links:
www.usatoday.com
www.msnbc.msn.com

[edit on 5/12/2006 by Mirthful Me]

this is so wrong it's scary. I live here and enjoy my food. I was overweight for a while and lost a whopping 80 pounds and have kept it off for 4 years now. I still eat out at restaurants and I still treat myself to all the city has to offer the stomach, just in moderation. If the city wants to keep people from getting obese and unhealthy, try edumacation first. Forcing restaurants to cook with certain ingrediants is not the answer.

Sure, the fast food chains are the real target here but there has to be a better way to control this. Perhaps limiting people to one big mac a month.

Just imagine how many millions of tax payer dollars were used by this coucil to determine the need for a ban. With issues like these you always have to look for the money trail. Who benefits? They don't care about the health quality of John Q construction worker. Somebody benefits...

I’m not sure if you guys know what the deal is with trans fat.
It isn’t like they are banning chocolate topping for your sundaes or salt for your fries. It is closer to banning coc aine for your Coca-cola or the asbestos in your house’s insulation.

This isn’t about stopping people from becoming fat it is about heart disease and other negative effects caused by LDL-cholesterol.
Most trans fats are created as a side effect of partial hydrogenated oils.
Trans fats raise bad cholesterol (LDL-cholesterol). LDL-cholesterol is a risk factor for heart disease.
It also lowers levels of good cholesterol (HDL-cholesterol). HDL-cholesterol protects against heart disease.
Trans fat is from the oil the food is cooked in. Trans fat is also used to increase product shelf life.
There is no safe level of trans fat consumption, but there is only 1.5 grams of trans fat in a Big Mac but 8 grams in a large order of McDonald's fries.
Most bags of chips today will have ZERO trans fat in them because Frito-Lay now uses trans-free oils (did you miss it last time you downed a bag of chips?). You will still get a big rear end from eating them but you are not going to severely damage your arteries.

Well actually as a mobile intensive care paramedic I have a pretty good grip on what trans fatty acids are and what they do to the human body. The point is not whether or not they are unhealthy, but do we really need government to dictate and then legislate what we eat. What's next? Will our food have to carry a special seal to be legal to serve? Very dangerous territory in my opinion.

I'm kind of on the fence with this one. I think the problem is that most people don't really know what kind of fats the resturaunts are cooking with. I'd rather that resturaunts were required to prominately show in the menu and on display in the resturaunt what fats they cook with, and how much per food item. They also should say what negative effectives trans fats cause. I bet if McDonald's put on the reader board "we cook with trans fats" and Wendy's put up "we don't use trans fats" (which they don't where I live)...that people would start to think.

One of the worst things I've found to eat (and one of my favorites) were Cinnabons...trans fatty heaven. They've got some turnovers you can buy in the frozen food section...look out, I think they had something like 7 grams of trans fat per turnover. I'm down to one Cinnabon about every 6 months so hopefully I'll live.

I find it funny that people think they have a right to smoke and eat crap but also a right to cheap health care. I'd let people be as unhealthy as they like as long as they had to pay more into health care.

Originally posted by MrMedic
The point is not whether or not they are unhealthy, but do we really need government to dictate and then legislate what we eat.

What does being a paramedic have to do with knowledge of trans fats? If you were a nutritionist I'd understand bringing up your profession.

The point is public safety.
Would you not expect to be protected from builders putting asbestos in your home? Should restaurants be allowed to season your food with rat poison?
The government does legislate what we eat. In America it is called the Food and Drug Administration.

What's next? Will our food have to carry a special seal to be legal to serve? Very dangerous territory in my opinion.

How exactly is that dangerous?
Here in Canada nutrition labelling is mandatory for most prepackaged foods. Meat is inspected and carries an official seal before it is sold. How is public safety dangerous?

I can see a new lawsuit in the making right now. Bad choice on the cities part if you ask me. Cooking is like free speech you have the right to use which ingredients you choose and they have no right telling you what you can or cannot use (as long as all ingredients are approved that is).

Essentially what they are doing is like walking up to a well known artist and telling him what kinds of brushes to use when expressing himself and it will never hold up in court. Once again PC overkill from the food police wannabes

Lets see how many French restaurants are there in NY 100 300 500 a thousand would make for a very good class action lawsuit.

If people are ignorant enough to eat that food, fine. I continue on a daily basis to tell people what conditions these things are in and how bad it is. If they choose to listen, fine, and if not, then let em eat it.

I think the only legislation that should have been passed is that once you get your heart disease, we aren't going to pay for it. You want to eat that food, fine. Unless you got the money to pay for the operation to get fixed up, I would suggest not doing it.

If the cause is something like eating too much food or having unprotected sex, why should anyone else have to pay for it? You knew full well, and if you didn't, you could have easily found out but decided not to.

I personally have no sympathy for these people, because it's their decision to eat what they eat.

by Umbrax
What does being a paramedic have to do with knowledge of trans fats? If you were a nutritionist I'd understand bringing up your profession.

by Umbrax
I’m not sure if you guys know what the deal is with trans fat.

The reason for me bringing up my profession is in response to your reply of whether "us guys" knew what we were talking about. With a deep understanding and education of the human body and pathology I feel I have just a smigeon more credibilty in this area than Joe Shmoe. Hope that answers your question.

I guess as an American I'm not interested in socialism. This is not Canada. I do not need the government to tell me what is bad for me. I would not allow the builders to use asbestos in my home. I guess the restaurant that uses rat poison would not be in business very long. And furthermore the FDA approves the use of trans fat.

I go back to my point regarding seat belt laws. I disagree. Even after scraping people off the pavement so very many times. I'm not interested in the government being involved in my personal life. Period! It's this " we know better than you so we must protect you from yourselves" mentality I abhor. I do not support large government "looking out" for me. A government that can give you everything can also take it all away.

[edit on 12/5/2006 by MrMedic]

Wikipedia, Trans Fat: Most trans fats []are industrially created as a side effect of partial hydrogenation of plant oils — a process developed in the early 1900s and first commercialized as Crisco in 1911. Partial hydrogenation changes a fat's molecular structure (raising its melting point and reducing rancidity) but this process also results in a proportion of the changed fat becoming trans fat.

Unlike other fats, trans fats are neither required nor beneficial for health.
[further] Eating trans fat increases the risk of coronary heart disease

For these reasons, health authorities worldwide recommend that consumption of trans fat be reduced to trace amounts.

The way I describe trans fat to people is via the peanut butter example.

The day peanut butter was born, the peanuts were crushed and the peanut oil floated to the top.

You can find a fine example of this stuff labeled "organic peanut butter" at your health food store. Or under the label "smuckers natural" at the grocery store. It will have a half inch of oil on top of the peanut butter.

In the old days, you'd stir the liquid oil it back in and keep your peanut butter in the fridge after opening. If you were on a diet, you'd opt to pour off the oil and eat the p-butter a little dryer...

In the "new" economy, industry pours off the oil for you... and then they stir in crisco, which never floats to the top and doesn't appear oily on the shelf and lasts longer so that it can be shipped from further away.

We call this stuff Jif or Skippy.

It spreads easy... doesn't look like it has a lot of fat in it, and tastes addictively good.

To the "bread and circuses" of modern culture was added partially hydrogenated peanut butter! Hoorah! All of the people were pacified... and to the eye they were eating healthier (no oil floating on top).

But alas, 65% of americans are overweight or obese... there must be something wrong.

I put the Sri Oracle stamp of approval on legislation that bans this foul industrially-created wanna be mock food substance.

Cooking is not like free speech, if you intend to sell the food, and the ingredients you use are grown in a lab instead of The Garden.

I move to ban artificial sweeters, artifical flavors, and preservatives as well. All in favor?

Happy PBJ eatin'

I am,

Sri Oracle

...oh and what about monocropped, chemically fertized, genetically modified, and pesticide flavored foods... Maybe we should ban those too. Nah... if we got rid of that there wouldn't be enough bread to feed the masses... they might not buy tickets when the circus comes to town...

muhaaaha

This is outrageous. This will end up hurting the small restauraunt owner more than anyone. I agree with MrMedic on this completly. Eating junk food and not excersizing is not good for one's body, plain and simple. Also I think trans fats are getting over hyped, some are predisposition for bad cholesrerol. Laws like this infrige on my freedom. Common sense is for everone I supppose.

exactly. This is EXACTLY what I was talking about in another thread when I said we promote laziness and embrace irresponsibility. Instead of embracing responsibility and telling people "what you do you are responsible for", we let the government tell them what to do and what not to do.

I believe all this is a key reason why our nation is falling apart. It seems like nobody is responsible for their actions now. There is some one to sue or the government to protect them. What the problem is now is making people responsible adults rather then a bunch of children that need to be watched after by government like parents or babysitters.

Your an adult, when you make a mistake, you take responsibility. It seems like america has been embracing finding a scape goat to take the fall. O my hot coffee spilt on my pants and burned me, blame McDonalds for not warning me my fresh coffee is hot. This is the kind of behavior that really destroys our country.

Its bad for you, and just about EVERYONE knows this. Those who dont have the information avalible to them, and if they don't, we should be spending money to get them to find out rather then tell them after they are dying from it we will spend alot more to take care of them.

An educated american should be responsible for their actions. The only way I can see them not taking responsibility is if the information was not avalible to them at all, and they ate something that was very bad for them to eat. We should work to make information avalible to everyone and work toward having the highest education in the world. THAT will secure freedom like no war ever will. THAT will secure safety like no other government program ever will. That will pour over into other aspects. Responsibility is the key to getting this nation in check.

If your uneducated, educate yourself.
If McDonalds food is bad, don't eat it.
If you make a mistake, its your fault. (unless its like your employer knew working conditions were unsafe but told you otherwise and when you went in you broke your leg)

Originally posted by MrMedicWith a deep understanding and education of the human body and pathology I feel I have just a smigeon more credibilty in this area than Joe Shmoe. Hope that answers your question.

So, MrMedic, what is it that industrially produced trans fat does to benefit the human body?

Those of you arguing for trans fat... and opposed to controls on the substance... I offer a challenge:

Go in your backyard... plant some corn... squeeze the oil from it after harvest with a press.

Hydrogenate the oil.

Make some food using your personal trans fat stash...

Report back to us.

Yours,

The foolish Joe Shmoe, stirring the peanut oil back into my peanut butter.

There have been several points brought up hear that I want to say I think are right. First off I agree that the government should not meddle in our personal lives, even if we wish to poisen our selves. Now in the last 75 years or so in the U.S. people have been crying out loud for the government to take care of them in one way or another. Part of that has been in the area of health care. So some bleeding hearts have gotten the government to provide those with health care who could not or do not want to do it them selves. So now that the government is providing health care they all of a sudden have an argument to be able to reagulate how you treat your self. Tobaco has been going out for a while now, and there already has been a lawsuite against the large fast food companies. This is just a continuation of what has been hapening. The U.S. will be seeing more of the same, that I am sure of.

The idea do just not pay for the health care for those people who do choose to treat them selves badly would be a fair alternative, but I doubt that would ever happen.

How about this oracle. Before you pick up that McDonalds burger, you ask for the information on that burger like whats in it and what that means. If you can't get it, then don't eat the food.

They will get rid of transfats if they loose all there business because people refuse to eat it. But responbility in america is gone, along with will power. Its a disgrace to see that people need certain foods that are killing them BANNED in order to stop eating them. The information IS avalible to you to find out whats in these foods. If its not, refuse to eat there till they tell you whats in the food. When they do, if there is something that will kill you in the food, you don't eat it.

If people were responsible, this would happen on a large scale and the business would go out of business if it didn't change off transfats. Thats what we call a consumer regulated market, rather then government regulated. One takes a lack of laziness and takes responsibility, which americans these days as a whole lack badly.

Originally posted by grimreaper797
How about this oracle. Before you pick up that McDonalds burger, you ask for the information on that burger like whats in it and what that means. If you can't get it, then don't eat the food.

I have asked for and received the information on the nutrition in fast foods. It is available if you ask for it. I started doing that when I found out I had high cholesterol.

I'm all against big government, but big government has also been letting the food and pharmaceutical industries contaminate our bodies for years via lobbyists. I would love it if fluoride was banned, and genetically modified crops. I see this as a localized counter-act to abuses our bodies have been exposed to for some time. Not enough and too late, though, imo.

by Sir Oracle

So, MrMedic, what is it that industrially produced trans fat does to benefit the human body?

You are missing the point. I am not in favor of people gorging themselves on industrial produced lard. It has nothing to do with that. I am not in favor of the government banning a completely legal foodstuff on the premise they know better than I.

Let's use a different analogy. Let's say your city now requires you to wear a helmet when you drive your car since most car accident related injuries are head injuries. The city council voted and in thirty days you must purchase and wear your new safety helmet. Would there be a reduction in car accident related injuries? Maybe. Do you feel better now the government requires you to do this since you are not intelligent enough to do it on your own. As for me, I will not be wearing a helmet.

[edit on 12/5/2006 by MrMedic]

I usually asked for the nutrition information when I was in the restrant. But things are a little different now. If any of you would like to know more hear is the link to the information for McDonalds.