The Food and Drug Administration issued a final decision this week, giving the food industry three years to phase out bad trans fats, still used in a wide variety of products, such as Pillsbury’s Ready To Bake cookies and cake frosting. Now, if you’re ingesting large quantities of either, perhaps partially hydrogenated oils aren’t your biggest concern in life. But if the government’s goal is to prevent cardiovascular disease and preventing cardiovascular disease is all that matters, why stop there?
The FDA alleges that phasing out trans fats will prevent about 7,000 premature deaths each year. (If you believe that these things can be quantified with that sort of precision, you have far too much faith in crusading bureaucracies. Years ago, I attempted to tally up the deaths that various studies, public interest groups and government agencies had attributed to obesity, smoking, salt, trans fats, meat, etc., and came up with a number larger than the number of all Americans who’d passed away that year.) But 610,000 Americans die from cardiovascular disease each year. Will 603,000 be left for corporate America to slaughter because we won’t act? The negative externalities of allowing people to eat whatever they desire are huge.
So if we can ban trans fats in an effort to curtail heart disease, I wish someone would explain what stops the state from banning any unhealthful ingredient it feels like. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the leading reasons for higher risk of heart disease are diabetes, obesity, poor diet, physical inactivity and excessive alcohol use.
More
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
6 comments:
Good bye my beloved Chicken & Dumplings, it was nice having you for Sunday dinner.
Trans fats are being banned because of the negative impact they have on health which CONTRIBUTES to obesity, cardiovascular disease, heart attack, stroke. You would be surprised how many people just don't realize what they are eating and how it could affect them. Personally I am going to miss the hell out of them, they are delicious, but please don't feel like your "rights" are being infringed upon. If something can help peoples well being why not do it. It will save us millions of dollars in healthcare to those who come in from dietary related issues. I think the focus here is on the underlying complications that these hydrogen rich fats can cause rather than trying to keep america under control by taking the extra yummy out of freezer pies.
this is similar to the anti tobacco lobby. Cigarettes are deemed unsafe and the dangers of secondhand smoke forced bans across the nation. It Was just a foot in the door to further intrude and control our lives in every aspect. instead of enforcing on the book littering laws. We now have outdoor bans that have nothing to do with the initial health concerns. Keep cheering ! BUT ITS OK ..You don't have anything to worry bout if you don't smoke or eat trans fats....YET!
3:00 With your way of thinking we should only eat organic vegetables and only drink water. No drinking, smoking, or eating of processed foods. Of course if we all ate that way 1/3 of the population would cease to exist. Why can't what a person eats or drinks or puts into their body be an individual choice without government interference. Please don't come back on and say it will help control health costs. That would just make the point that the government shouldn't be in the health care business to begin with.
In the 50's and 60's, we all had whole milk with cream on the top, a half a stick of butter on the baked potato, and real ice cream, and nobody was fat.
NOBODY.
Please explain this.
4:44 pm Hell no I am not saying we should do that haha. I've seen first hand organic crops sprayed with copper dust, I'm not advertising that hipster eat organic diet regime at all. I'm saying I support this for the health of all people. You may be feeding your children something with trans fats, which are PROVEN to be harmful to the body, without even knowing it. A product with <.5G of trans fat does not have to be lebeled as containing trans fats. If you would like to shove whatever you want into your body then go for it haha. I believe this is being done to protect the general public that is oblivious to what theyre consuming. Just look at youtube videos of people signing petitions to ban dihydrogen monoxide and to end women's suffrage.
Post a Comment