NEWS: California joins New York in Trans Fat Ban

[Jenise]

Here's a link to the article in today's New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/26/us/26fats.html?_r=1&th=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&emc=th&adxnnlx=1217092134-W28BHxH7bw2kZrSHEmVH2g

Without an iota of proof that they do you any harm; per Dr Dana Dow on the radio today.

And even if so... why do I need my "leaders" telling me what I can and can't eat? What's next, banning alcohol in restaurants because some elected chimps don't like it?

Ok, so they ban trans fats and the unknowing folks think they can eat more because the food has no fat. or so they think. I heard a dietitian speaking about this the other day. She felt this was not going to accomplish anything. The people who eat two Big Macs at one sitting with french fries and a shake will still do it. The calories are still there. I'm thinking the health benefits will be minimal. What do you think?

And on top of the other objections, chefs and restaurant owners have been reducing their use of trans-fats on their own.

Our legislature is really a piece of.....um........work.

The nattering nabobs of nanny-ism strike again.

Perhaps it wouldn't be so hard to take if just once, just once, these imbeciles could find the time to do WHAT WE ELECT THEM TO DO, i.e. pass a budget on time. It always amazes me that they consistently fail in that one important undertaking, something that actually matters, yet find the time to tell me what to wear on my head when I ride my motorcycle, what kind of light bulbs I should use, where and when and in whose presence I may smoke, and now, what ingredients I may ingest in my favorite restaurant.

I can't stomach any of them. I hate politics and politicians, and I hate California politics most of all.

Don't hold back, John. Tell us what you really think!

Don't hold back, John. Tell us what you really think!

Trust me, I was being reserved.

Trust me, I was being reserved.

I suspected as much!

Carl said:

Without an iota of proof that they do you any harm; per Dr Dana Dow on the radio today.

If you google Dr. Dana Dow, Carl's post is the only entry that actually has that name. Carl, do you know who this person is, and is the good doctor qualified enough that we should pay any attention to him/her?

In the opposing corner, incoming president of the American Heart Association Dr. Clyde Yancy:

Dr. Yancy said a 2 percent increase in trans-fat intake could result over time in a 25 percent increase in the likelihood of developing coronary artery disease. “These are data we are just now beginning to understand,” he said. “It is pretty clear now that it was a mistake for us to embrace these fats.”

I don't have time today for a discussion of the proper role of government, but felt I must comment on the health aspects.

There are still those who still deny any link between cigarettes and lung cancer. There are others who deny the Nazis tried to exterminate the jews of Europe. There are those who say trans fats are not linked to health problems...

There's a difference between saying "XYZ is potentially unhealthy," and "XYZ is potentially unhealthy, so we will use the force of the State to prevent people from making the wrong decisions."

I'm personally stung by this one, since it will now be about impossible to get vegetarian tamales.

I'm personally stung by this one, since it will now be about impossible to get vegetarian tamales.

From the green chile and cheese tamales in my freezer: Masa, Jack and Mozzarella Cheese, Green Chile, Vegetable Oil, Salt.

Maybe I should FedEx some to you!

Yeah, my roach-coach guy said that he'll switch over to lard because of cost of the alternative vegetable shortening. There's a tamale guy at the Walnut Creek farmer's market that I'll need to quiz, too. If I get the wrong answer, I may indeed need care packages.

There's a tamale guy at the Walnut Creek farmer's market that I'll need to quiz, too.

Hey! I had one of his black bean and cheese tamales when I was out in the SF Bay Area a couple weeks ago. It was pretty good. Especially as breakfast at 8 a.m.

Carl said:

Without an iota of proof that they do you any harm; per Dr Dana Dow on the radio today.

If you google Dr. Dana Dow, Carl's post is the only entry that actually has that name. Carl, do you know who this person is, and is the good doctor qualified enough that we should pay any attention to him/her?

Maybe he means the Maine State Senator? He has recently spoken against posting nutrition/caloric info on restaurant menus. As a 100% line-toeing conservative, he probably also thinks government shouldn't interfere in the trans-fat biz.

For Stuart... would you like some ehtylene glycol in that cup of wine? You'd surely have it, were it not for government interference.

Carl said:

Without an iota of proof that they do you any harm; per Dr Dana Dow on the radio today.

If you google Dr. Dana Dow, Carl's post is the only entry that actually has that name. Carl, do you know who this person is, and is the good doctor qualified enough that we should pay any attention to him/her?

Probably got the last name wrong. At any rate he is a very popular medical and very liberal talk show host.

I doubt that Michel Ogier's fear of the FDA is what prevented him from putting ethylene glycol in my wine.

M. Ogier is exceptional. How about the thousands of other winemakers?

In any case, I believe my point is quite clear: the marketplace, already full of snake-oil salesmen, would be stuffed to overflowing with them were the threat of legal action withdrawn.

It wasn't the FDA who caught the Austrians.

Do you really think that most winemakers, and any with a rep for quality, would deliberately taint their wines? They DO cheat, mostly about acidification, chaptalization, alcohol percentage, and yields, but that's different than adding antifreeze.

There was one notorious CNdP producer who spiked at least one vintage with Grenadine, then got a stunningly high score from Parker...

Yeah, my roach-coach guy said that he'll switch over to lard because of cost of the alternative vegetable shortening.

Nope. Try again. Commercial lard contains trans fats and will fall under the ban.

From yesterday's page 1 story in the Santa Barbara News Depress:

A small amount of trans fat is found naturally, primarily in some animal-based foods, according to the Food and Drug Administration. But legislation such as Mr. Mendoza's AB 97 is aimed at the manufactured variety, produced when hydrogen is added to, say, vegetable oil.

That includes lard.

Remember when everyone was saying that government should stay out of the people's bedrooms? Well, who the hell invited them into the kitchen?

Well, that's nice. Ah-nuld shows that when it comes to Government paternalism, he's still European at heart.

Winston wrenched his body out of bed — naked, for a member of the Outer Party received only 3,000 clothing coupons annually, and a suit of pyjamas was 600 — and seized a dingy singlet and a pair of shorts that were lying across a chair. The Physical Jerks would begin in three minutes. The next moment he was doubled up by a violent coughing fit which nearly always attacked him soon after waking up. It emptied his lungs so completely that he could only begin breathing again by lying on his back and taking a series of deep gasps. His veins had swelled with the effort of the cough, and the varicose ulcer had started itching.

‘Thirty to forty group!’ yapped a piercing female voice. ‘Thirty to forty group! Take your places, please. Thirties to forties!’

Winston sprang to attention in front of the telescreen, upon which the image of a youngish woman, scrawny but muscular, dressed in tunic and gym-shoes, had already appeared.

‘Arms bending and stretching!’ she rapped out. ‘Take your time by me. One, two, three, four! One, two, three, four! Come on, comrades, put a bit of life into it! One, two, three four! One two, three, four!...’

‘Smith!’ screamed the shrewish voice from the telescreen. ‘6079 Smith W.! Yes, you! Bend lower, please! You can do better than that. You're not trying. Lower, please! That's better, comrade. Now stand at ease, the whole squad, and watch me.’

A sudden hot sweat had broken out all over Winston's body. His face remained completely inscrutable. Never show dismay! Never show resentment! A single flicker of the eyes could give you away. He stood watching while the instructress raised her arms above her head and — one could not say gracefully, but with remarkable neatness and efficiency — bent over and tucked the first joint of her fingers under her toes.

‘There, comrades! That's how I want to see you doing it. Watch me again. I'm thirty-nine and I've had four children. Now look.’ She bent over again. ‘You see my knees aren't bent. You can all do it if you want to,’ she added as she straightened herself up. ‘Anyone under forty-five is perfectly capable of touching his toes. We don't all have the privilege of fighting in the front line, but at least we can all keep fit. Remember our boys on the Malabar front! And the sailors in the Floating Fortresses! Just think what they have to put up with. Now try again. That's better, comrade, that's much better,’ she added encouragingly as Winston, with a violent lunge, succeeded in touching his toes with knees unbent, for the first time in several years.

It wasn't the FDA who caught the Austrians.

Do you really think that most winemakers, and any with a rep for quality, would deliberately taint their wines? They DO cheat, mostly about acidification, chaptalization, alcohol percentage, and yields, but that's different than adding antifreeze.

It wasn't the drinkers, either.

And, yes, winemakers, like all good captialists, will do whatever they can get away with, if it will help their own cause.

Do you really think that Enron, Cross Country, whoever it was that employed Ivan Boesky, etc., are exceptions? Hardly. They're paragons of capitalism, just not great at avoiding capture.

Yes, they are indeed the exceptions. That's why they were news. "Company Run Honestly" doesn't make headlines. People do commit crimes, guys in expensive suits and suites are no exception, and if memory serves, they went to jail for them. Same with wine; 99.999% of winemakers (in my experience working in that industry) wouldn't even DREAM of adding a toxic adulterant. I spent a lot of my professional time chasing down paperwork for finicky QC departments in those much-hated industrial combine wineries.

Yeah, my roach-coach guy said that he'll switch over to lard because of cost of the alternative vegetable shortening.

Nope. Try again. Commercial lard contains trans fats and will fall under the ban.

From yesterday's page 1 story in the Santa Barbara News Depress:

A small amount of trans fat is found naturally, primarily in some animal-based foods, according to the Food and Drug Administration. But legislation such as Mr. Mendoza's AB 97 is aimed at the manufactured variety, produced when hydrogen is added to, say, vegetable oil.

That includes lard.

Oh for God's sake. That's just pathetic.

Remember when everyone was saying that government should stay out of the people's bedrooms? Well, who the hell invited them into the kitchen?