Banning transfat

S

swatiraohnlu

Swati Rao
Trans fat is the common name for unsaturated fat with trans-isomer (E-isomer) fatty acid(s). It can be found in Oreos, cup-cakes, french fries, deep-fried dishes, croissants, and other foods. It is so unhealthy for individuals that many legislators have proposed and executed bans of the use of trans fats in restaurants, and in some cases in grocery goods as well. New York City was the first US city to successfully ban trans fats in December of 2006. Philadelphia followed in October of 2007. San Francisco, Seattle, and Chicago have all passed similar bans or limitations since. Many other legislatures in the US are pursuing bans. Denmark was the first country to effectively ban trans fats in 2003, with Switzerland following in 2009. The debate continues in many other countries and localities. While many believe that the world might be healthier without the substance, others contend that trans fats have a particularly delicious taste, and serve the functional purpose of extending the shelf-life of foods.
 
anything which degrades the health of the society should be banned immediately."we are what we eat",so care should be taken about the quality of served to the people.the government of the day has the moral responsibility of taking the matter in its hand before it damages the health of the people.chronic diseases have increased manifold and are a menace to the general health of the people and so government should open their eyes and put equal attention this serious issue as "prevention is better than cure",i mean to say it's better to save the spendings on medicines,equipments etc by eliminating the causes of chronic diseases(transfat being one of them).
 
* Trans fats are uniquely bad for human health "Ban Trans Fats." Washington Post Editorial. November 6th, 2006: "The evidence that doctors and public health experts presented makes you think twice about picking up a Whopper: Trans fats, which are chemically engineered, decrease levels of desirable cholesterol while increasing harmful cholesterol; they increase dangerous inflammation that can contribute to the onset of diabetes; and they harden artery walls, which increases blood pressure. Trans fats are much worse than even naturally occurring -- and still very unhealthy -- saturated fats such as those found in butter. Dariush Mozaffarian, a Harvard cardiologist and epidemiologist, calculated that up to 22 percent of heart attacks in the United States are the result of trans fat consumption."

* Banning trans fats means saving thousands of lives "Ban trans fats and thousands of lives will be saved, UK told." Independent. April 16th, 2010: "Even a 1 per cent fall in use of the fats, as a proportion of total daily calories, would prevent an estimated 11,000 heart attacks and save 7,000 lives a year in England alone. Consumption of trans fats in developed nations ranges from 2-4 per cent of total calorie intake, they say. [...] In New York, voluntary efforts to reduce their use failed, but when they were banned in 2007 the proportion of New York restaurants using trans fats fell from 50 per cent to less than 2 per cent. (Some trans fats occur naturally so they cannot be totally eliminated.) Fears that trans fats would be replaced with saturated animal fat, which is also bad for health, have proved unfounded. Writing in the British Medical Journal, Dariush Mozaffarian, assistant professor of medicine, and Meir Stampfer, professor of epidemiology at Harvard, say removing industrial trans fats is 'one of the most straightforward public health strategies for rapid improvements in health.' A ban would save lives, be easy to implement yet have no impact on the price, sales, taste or availability of the affected foods, they say."

* Trans fats increase risk of female infertility

* Trans fats have created health crisis worthy of ban. Bans should be reserved for very serious health crises. The obesity, heart attacks, and death caused by the presence of trans fats in diets is such a crisis. A ban is, thus, an appropriate regulatory response.
 
* No amount of trans fats healthy, unlike other fats. Catherine Winters. "How to Spot Sneaky Fat: The Truth About Hidden Trans Fats." Ladies Home Journal: "While we know what a healthy level of saturated fat is (10 percent or less of your daily calories), no one knows what a healthy level would be for trans fatty acids."

* Trans fats are a man-made type of fat. Natural fats are one thing. But trans fats are entirely man-made creations, and are significantly worse for individuals than natural fats. For this reason, it is reasonable to consider banning them.
 
* Govt experts needed to protect citizens from trans fats. "The Trans Fats Ban--Posner's Response to Comments." The Becker Posner Blog. December 24th, 2006: "one can never expect government to get things just right, given the play of politics. There are always going to be silly regulations, but that is not a compelling argument for having no regulations at all. The commenters who denounce the 'nanny state' do not indicate what if any regulations they approve of. Do they think there should be no inspections of restaurants by health inspectors? No regulation at all of food or drug safety by the Food and Drug Administration? Some commenters think that people should be encouraged to study the dangers of trans fats and make their own judgments about what to eat. But people have limited time to do research on such matters. It makes sense to delegate the research to a central authority, so that instead of 300 million people trying to learn about trans fats and every other lurking menace, a handful of experts conducts the research and when it is reasonably obvious how we would react if we were informed of its results, implement the proper response. Surely our capacity to absorb information is quite limited and we must rely on the research of others for most of what we know and the knowledge of others for our protection."

* Trans fats "unsafe" under regulatory standards. "Ban Trans Fats." Washington Post Editorial. November 6th, 2006: "Currently, the FDA considers all uses of trans fats to be 'generally regarded as safe,' a designation that allows food producers to use trans fats liberally. According to the FDA, however, 'safe' means 'a reasonable certainty in the minds of competent scientists that the substance is not harmful under its intended conditions of use' -- a criterion that trans fats no longer satisfy. Federal regulators should promptly move to revoke the 'generally regarded as safe' status for most -- if not all -- uses of trans fats, which would effectively eliminate trans fats from American food. Leaving local jurisdictions to regulate trans fats, on the other hand, is an unnecessarily arduous way to stop their use."
 
Trans fats can be replaced w/o changing taste/price. "Ban Trans Fats." Washington Post Editorial. November 6th, 2006: "We would sympathize with the opponents of the trans fat ban if it weren't so easy and inexpensive to use other, less harmful products without significantly altering the taste of the food. Kraft recently eliminated trans fats from its Oreo cookies. Could you tell? Similarly, Wendy's tested its new frying oil in 370 franchises, and customers didn't notice the difference. Denmark imposed a national ban on trans fats with which even McDonald's has complied. Since trans fats aren't irreplaceable, objections for the sake of consumer freedom are also unconvincing. As with lead added to paint, trans fats are unnecessary additives to consumer products that can cause significant harm -- and many Americans don't even know they are in the restaurant food they are eating."
 
Trans fat ingredient has replacements unlike tobacco/alcohol. Opponents of banning trans fats frequently compare the idea with that of banning alcohol or tobacco. You can't ban trans fats if you're not willing to also ban tobacco and alcohol, they say. But, this misses a key difference. While banning cigarettes and alcohol mean banning an entire product category, banning the ingredient of trans fats means no such thing. Rather, it simply means that readily available replacement ingredients must be used in the preparation of the same foods. And, since these fatty replacements are widespread and cheaply available, food makers and consumers should have little difficulty making the adjustment to making and consuming the same, albeit slightly modified, foods.
 
* Trans fats can be replaced w/o changing taste/price. "Ban Trans Fats." Washington Post Editorial. November 6th, 2006: "We would sympathize with the opponents of the trans fat ban if it weren't so easy and inexpensive to use other, less harmful products without significantly altering the taste of the food. Kraft recently eliminated trans fats from its Oreo cookies. Could you tell? Similarly, Wendy's tested its new frying oil in 370 franchises, and customers didn't notice the difference. Denmark imposed a national ban on trans fats with which even McDonald's has complied. Since trans fats aren't irreplaceable, objections for the sake of consumer freedom are also unconvincing. As with lead added to paint, trans fats are unnecessary additives to consumer products that can cause significant harm -- and many Americans don't even know they are in the restaurant food they are eating."

* Replacement fats will get cheaper with time. Replacements for trans fats will get cheaper and cheaper with time, as they are used more frequently and as the companies that produce and distribute them increase their sales volumes and are able to sell them for lower prices.
 
A recent analysis of all the evidence recommended that people should reduce or stop their dietary intake of trans fatty acids to minimise the related risk of coronary heart disease.
The authors, from Harvard School of Public Health in the US, report that bans in Denmark and New York City effectively eliminated trans fats, without reducing food availability, taste, or affordability.
There is also no evidence that such legislation leads to harm from increased use of saturated fats.
 
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