For once, government gets it right… The Big Apple’s healthy TRANSformation Well, I have to say it: I’m having a bit of a quandary of principle… On the one hand, I’m a huge proponent of personal freedoms — even if those freedoms are bad for us (or, like smoking, are merely thought by the mainstream to be bad for us). I’ve written before about the evils of fast food and sweets, but also about how the ultimate responsibility for avoiding junk foods and the obesity they cause is up to the individual. In other words, it isn’t the government’s job to protect us from ourselves. But by the same token, I write about how it IS the government’s job to protect us from hazardous chemicals and additives in our foods and drugs — not that they do this very well. After all, companies that are raking in millions (like drug makers and junk food manufacturers) can hardly be trusted to self-regulate on behalf of our health because it’ll take away from their bottom line… These are seemingly contradictory positions, I know. But they aren’t really — not if they’re balanced with an overarching concern for the sovereignty of the individual and personal freedom. The trouble is that so much of the time, the law is too far toward one of these poles or the other, and not nearly often enough a fair balance between the two. That’s why I’m constantly leery of the government, and always sounding off when they over- or under-regulate (which is more or less all the time)… That’s also why as much as I hate to do it, I must grudgingly offer my kudos to the normally too-invasive, do-gooder weenies of the New York City government for having the guts to do what the feds won’t — ban a REAL culprit behind much of this nation’s obesity and heart disease epidemic: Trans fats. As you know, I’ve written at great length and for years about the dangers of these killer, artery-clogging oils. They’re almost everywhere. For decades, we’ve polluted our bodies with sticks of it in the name of health — it’s called margarine. Trans fats are also known as “hydrogenated vegetable oils,” and they are in most all processed foods (read: junk foods)… They’re almost everywhere, that is, except in the Big Apple’s restaurants. In a landmark legislative move — the first of its kind in the U.S. — New York City has given all restaurants within the city’s limits just 6 months (until July 1st) to phase out virtually all unnatural or added trans-fats in their fare… This includes fast-food and chain restaurants, which will literally have to develop new variations of their offerings to suit the New York market. As a result, the measure could boost prices dramatically, according to the National Restaurant Association — which is also threatening to sue the state of New York over the new law. Their claim: That the selfless, conscientious restaurant industry should be given more time to “voluntarily” reduce trans-fats. Of course, those food-sellers specializing in trans-fat-laden doughnuts and other baked confections are being given until mid-2008 to comply with the law. What this accomplishes other than keeping people fatter longer I can’t say… Trans-fats exist naturally in small amounts in some foods. These, of course, are exempt from the new law. However, the vast bulk of trans-fats consumed by Americans are the “added” kind. And in my opinion, such a law as New York’s, applied nationally, would do more to stem obesity than any other single thing the government could do — except perhaps eliminating that absurdly fattening, carb-laced Food Pyramid. THAT’s the thing that really should be banned first. | 
