If You Did It Voluntarily, We Wouldn't Have to Force You

Getting a jump on Chicago, the New York City Board of Health is poised to ban partially hydrogenated vegetable fat from restaurants:

The Board of Health vote comes a year after it conducted an unsuccessful campaign to persuade restaurants to eliminate trans fats from their recipes voluntarily. It said yesterday that despite mass mailings about the hazards of trans fats and training programs for 7,800 restaurant operators, about half the city's restaurants continued to serve trans fats, about the same as before the campaign.

Board member Lynne D. Richardson explains that "human life is much more important than shelf life."