[Dean's World] Dean: Off The Rails On Poisons In Restaurants

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Posted by Dean:
Off The Rails On Poisons In Restaurants
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1165697781.shtml


   [1]William Saletan, [2]Ann Althouse, and [3]Glenn Reynolds all
   criticize New York's recent wise decision to ban the utterly unnatural
   toxin known as "trans-fat" from restaurants. Saletan suggests that
   this is the first step in an effort to ban all fat from foods, while
   Reynolds and Althouse suggest that this may be based on a disgust with
   fat people, a nanny-statist urge, and a desire to feel like moral
   crusaders.

   This is silly. Saletan's just wrong because you can't ban fat from
   food. People would die without fat in their diets. Further, probably
   at least half the foods we eat now would have to be banned. It simply
   cannot be done.

   Furthermore, trans-fats do not make people fat any more than sugar or
   butter do. So why is there no nationwide trend to banning sugar or
   butter? The idea in the 1990s that fat was what caused obesity and
   other negative health problems all but completely abandoned;
   [4]low-fat diets simply are not particularly healthy.

   Furthermore, I applaud this ban and I'm no nanny-stater nor despiser
   of the corpulent. The problem is that this stuff is quite a bit more
   dangerous and unhealthy than any normal, natural type of fat (which
   Saletan reluctantly notes, with slightly evasive phrasing). Trans-fats
   are far worse than butter or beef or bacon or oils. This [5]early 21st
   century chemical experiment only got approved for use in foods because
   it came out before there was any FDA or much of anything in the rules
   about just releasing chemicals into the general population.

   But we now know: it's not natural, and it's more than unhealthy, it's
   dangerous. It's considerably more unhealthy than any normal fat found
   in foods anyone would make in a kitchen. You are better off frying
   your foods in bacon grease or butter than you are in this crap.
   Indeed, I would encourage McDonald's to go back to frying their food
   in beef grease just like they did decades ago: not only would it be
   more healthy, but the fries would taste better anyway.

   The problem with trans-fats is that this stuff gets squirrelled away
   in all kinds of food, where you'd least expect it and can often not
   avoid it.

   Furthermore, I don't blame the manufacturers for this fact. They
   didn't know better in the first place. It looked like a harmless oil
   product to them. But switching costs money, and in a competitive
   market they can't be expected to simply decide to take an expense hit
   that their competitors don't. Which is why a ban is good for
   businesses: it levels the playing field, so that whatever minor cost
   hit is taken, it will be evenly distributed.

   I am generally a believer in free markets, but I note that free market
   ideology can be as blinding as any other ideology. Regulation of
   commerce is one of the core duties of government. It always has been
   and always will be. Indeed, it's one of the few government powers
   that's explicitly spelled out in the US Constitution.

   Yes, government can over regulate, but that doesn't make every
   regulation bad. I firmly believe that I, as a consumer, should not
   have to carry a long list in my pocket so that every time I walk into
   a restaurant I have to quiz the staff:

     Hello Mr. Restaurateur! Do you have any:

     Botulism? Turpentine? Arsenic? Cyanide? E. Coli? Mercury Cholera
     Iocane? Anthrax? Turpentine? Trans-fat?

     ....in your food? May I inspect your kitchen to be sure?

   I could make that list quite a bit longer, by the way.

   The urge to stop the nanny impulse is healthy but can be taken too far
   people. This stuff is a poison, and there's no good reason to use it
   anymore when healthier and far more natural alternatives (including
   even good old bacon and beef grease) are available.

   This is not a war against fat or against fat people. It's a public
   policy banning a poison from restaurants.

References

   1. http://www.slate.com/id/2155120/
   2. http://althouse.blogspot.com/2006/12/what-i-think-is-really-going-on-in-war.html
   3. http://instapundit.com/archives2/2006/12/post_889.php
   4. http://www.deanesmay.com/corr.html
   5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisco