Stop Trans Fat Whining
Can bloggers and talking heads please shut up about New York City and now Universal Studios banning trans fats?
You’d think these entities were banning butter and fat outright. Trust me, there’s plenty of lard to go around, people. Plenty of people will still have the right to clog their arteries, lower their HDL, and raise their LDL. They’ll just have to work a little harder at it.
Trans fats, you will be not be missed. No one will notice the difference. Muffins and cookies have existed for much longer than trans fats. I think we’ll survive.
People aren’t whining because they prefer to shorten their lifespans. They whine because legislation is increasingly imposing moral judgments on people’s behavior. People are resistant to mandates on issues that afffect only themselves and do no harm to others. And before the argument is made, cigarettes are not such an issue because secondhand smoke creates tangible, negative externalities.
Now I personally avoid eating trans fats anyway (to the extent that I eat packaged foods at all). But people should be free to make the choice. I also think that Koolaid, frozen dinners, and third-press olive oils should not be consumed, but I do not think that legislation should ban them.
but it does affect others, albeit mostly in indirect ways. most of us aren’t willing to be the annoying person in the restaurant who demands to know the ingredients of everything on the menu, so it would be nice to be able to assume that they don’t include heart poison. you could make the argument then that restaurants should just be required to label trans fat content (except that the labeling requirements skirt the issue by still allowing an entire half a gram of the stuff in a serving and still call it 0).
but probably a bigger effect is that trans fats tack so much on to our nationwide health bill. how much lower would all our premiums be, and how many scarce medical resources could be directed elsewhere, and how much lost economic productivity could be avoided, if we as a nation banned the sale of trans fats? totally worth it, in my opinion. if people want to make their own, then go ahead, or maybe we could work out some sort of big taxation scheme to offset the public costs.
but those of us who choose healthy lifestyles shouldn’t constantly be required to pay for the effects of unhealthy ones. especially not when, as has been pointed out above, the substance in question is so non-essential.
Those whining about the trans fat ban are manufacturers who have to pay more for alternatives. In fact, though, I think some food makers like the ban because it will even the playing field in the industry. Consumers don’t want trans fats, but it’s tough to find a donut or french fry made without the stuff. All in all, it’s ineffective to put the onus on individual consumers to police the food industry when a substance is so pervasive. By not regulating trans fats, government signals that they are OK; they’re not. Trans fats are leading to higher national health care costs for which we all pay. Look at Medicare budget projections lately?