7/25    Yay!  CA has banned trans-fat!  Now if only the legislature could make
        all of my decisions.  Oh, and pass a budget that spends less than it
        takes in.  Thanks progressives for the new prohibition, 100 years after
        the last one.
        \_ Schwarzenegger is a progressive?  -tom
           \_ The legislature is--the girly-man Gov. just wants to be liked.
        \_ did they include a budget for enforcement?  How did they think they
           would implement this.
           \_ I wouldn't think it would require much money for enforcement.
              It's just another box for the health inspector to check.
              \_ Is it just restaurants or also packaged food in stores?
                 \_ "a ban on trans fats in restaurants and retail baked goods"
                    Both of which are already check for lots of stuff, so,
                    while I think it's silly, I don't think it's going to
                    cost much to the gvt.
                    \_ Does that include twinkies or not?
           \_ Right now you can't add rat poison to baked goods either.  Not
              even if you put "tasty tasty rat poison" in the list of
              ingredients.  How much do you think that costs to enforce?
              There is not going to be a transfat division added to police
              forces across the state.  Instead it's one more thing that
              it is illegal to add to food.  If a company does and labels it
              as transfat gee, that will be pretty obvious SO THEY WON'T.
              If a company does and doesn't label it they will be breaking
              labeling laws (which are pretty harsh) SO THEY WON'T.  Small
              bakers may get away with using transfats for a while but
              1. that's not a big deal state healthwise and 2. over time
              bakeries will stop, because it's not worth the trouble.
              \_ Why don't they ban something that actually affects other
                 people like SMOKING and let people eat whatever the hell
                 they want to eat?
                 \_ Bill Gates is working on that.  I wonder if humanity
                    suffers more from diseases caused by years of eating
                    trans fats, or from smoking?  hard to say.
                    \_ I don't really care to protect humanity from itself. I
                       just don't want to choke on other people's smoke.
                 \_ You can continue to eat all the transfats you want. You
                    just won't get them in mass-produced food items. Your
                    choice to kill yourself with transfats has not been
                    impinged; the option to soak other people in them
                    without their consent has. Opt-in fat good.
                    \_ My choice to use whatever ingredients I want in my
                       food (as a manufacturer) has been impinged. There is no
                       evidence transfats are intrinsically bad for your
                       health. If you eat too many of them and exercise too
                       little they aren't good for you but neither are sugar,
                       beer, and coffee. You can overdose on water even.
                       This is selectively discriminating against an ingredient
                       for arbitrary reasons.
                       \_ Your "rights" as a manufacturer are already subject
                          to regulation (cf "rat poison" above). If your
                          argument is with the arbitrary nature of the ban,
                          that's different from "let[ting] people eat
                          whatever the hell they want to ear."
                          \_ Rat poison is hardly the same thing as transfats.
                       \_ "There is no evidence that transfats are
                          intrinsically bad for your health"??? You should
                          educate yourself on the topic, the AMA and NAS
                          disagree with you on this.
                          \_ What is the health risk of eating transfats? None
                             at all. Did we ban saturated fats? Should we
                             ban baking with butter, too? Eat too much of
                             them and exercise too little and you will get
                             sick. However, a healthy person can eat a
                             transfat-laden muffin with no ill effects.
                             Maybe we should ban steak. It's laden with
                             saturated fats *and* unlabeled as such! I
                             never knew!
                             \_ "from a nutritional standpoint, the consumption
                                 of trans fatty acids results in considerable
                                 potential harm but no apparent benefit."
                                 -New England Journal of Medicine
                                "...any incremental increase in trans fat
                                 intake increases the risk of heart disease."
                                 -NAS Dietary Reference
                                Should I take the advice of these two peer
                                reviewed experts or anonymous motd hozer?
                                Hmmm...
                                \_ "from a nutritional standpoint, the
                                    consumption of vodka results in
                                    considerable potential harm but no
                                    apparent benefit."
                                   "...any incremental increase in cheesesteaks
                                   intake increases the risk of heart
                                   disease."
                                   Clearly we need to ban cheesesteaks and
                                   vodka.
                                   \_ And yet we don't let people sell
                                      rubbing alcohol as a cheap vodka
                                      substitute.
                                      \_ Weak.
                                   \_ Actually, there are numerous studies
                                      indicating that moderate alchohol
                                      consumption is salubrious. And cheese
                                      steaks in moderation are good for you,
                                      too. I agree with your main point, that
                                      people should be allowed to poison
                                      themselves, but you are not arguing from
                                      the facts here. Transfat is worse for
                                      you than white sugar, even.
                                      \_ Transfat is, arguably, no worse for
                                         you than saturated fat. In fact,
                                         many studies have credited transfats
                                         for lowering risk of heart disease as
                                         substitutes for saturated fats. Sure,
                                         some studies say saturated fats are
                                         worse, which is why I use the term
                                         "arguably". Certainly saturated fats
                                         are very unhealthy and there is no
                                         cry to ban them. Transfats have
                                         become the boogeymen du jour. BTW, I
                                         seriously doubt vodka has any positive
                                         benefits. Wine, sure. Vodka, I doubt.
                                         Maybe as a blood thinner if that's a
                                         positive thing for you.