Should trans fats be banned by local, state, or federal governments?
No.
In a world of uncertainty and gray areas, here's one detail that's a lock: Trans fatty acids are very unhealthy. Period. Nevertheless, do you really want the government telling you what you can and can't eat?
I've had some apprehensions over the well intentioned but misguided proposal to ban trans fat use from all New York City restaurants. And I found these apprehensions perfectly expressed when I read this excerpt from a recent column by HSI Panelist Jon Barron.
"Time and time again government health experts have been on the wrong side of dietary issues. Just because they are on the right side of the trans fat issue doesn't make the precedent of allowing them to MANDATE what we can eat any less dangerous. Imagine if they had actually mandated 30 years ago that all restaurants HAD to serve you trans fatty acids instead of saturated fat. Or if tomorrow they mandated that supermarkets could no longer sell you butter or coconut oil. Or what if they mandated that all meat and produce had to be irradiated to keep it germ free.
"And then, how far a step is it to ban you from using: - Megadose vitamins. (Wait a second, consumers in Europe are already looking at such a ban.)
- Medicinal herbs of all kinds.
- Or homeopathic medicines."
You can find this column ("Counting Camels" 10/9/06) on Jon's Baseline of Health website, at jonbarron.org/baseline_newsletters.php.
Here's another reason why trans fats don't need to be banned: People are already avoiding them. And that's a success story. Somehow, the reality of these dangerous fats finally penetrated the mainstream media, so now you've got Brian, Katie, and Charles frequently talking about trans fats on the nightly news. And what was the news last week? KFC reps announced the company will phase out all use of trans fats in their restaurants by next spring. No regulation necessary.
And here's one final reason to avoid a regulatory ban: When government officials step in to do something good, they often just make things bad in a different way. Case in point: The absurd FDA regulation that allows food producers to claim certain products contain "zero trans fats," even when the products actually contain trans fats. You can read all about that cute little loophole in the e-Alert "Zero Denial" (5/1/06), which you can find at this link: http://www.hsibaltimore.com/ealerts/ea200605/ea20060501.html Sources:
"Got Anthocyanins?" Marilyn Sterling, R.D., Nutrition Science News, December 2001, newhope.com
"Counting Camels" Jon Barron, Baseline of Health, 10/9/06, jonbarron.org/baseline_newsletters.php |
