Trans Fat Expressway to Your Heart or, Land of Lincoln Wants to Jump on Ban Wagon

Last week, I recorded a spirited conversation with the Illinois Policy Institute's Kristina Rasmussen about trans fat bans. The Land of Lincoln is now currently considering such an action, which have already been implemented in various places around the globe (Denmark) and in the U.S. (New York City, that tough guy town).

Listen here (it's about five minutes of artery-clearing ranting).

Reason on the dreaded trans fat bans.

Comments

[rather]

I think it should be banned for the public but mandated for libertarians , along with smoking a pack a day.

Who eats shit with trans fat anyway?

[Warty]

No one cares what your opinions are, twat.

[Gracie]

You think I'm gorgeous, you want to kiss me...You want to hug me... You want to love me... You want to hug me... You want to smooch me... You want to...FUCK! YOU'RE DISGUSTING

[helle]

No one cares

Well you do, or you wouldn't comment, would you.

[Colonel_Angus]

"Who eats shit with trans fat anyway?"

Who is so anal that they care whether or not they are eating trans fat? Is it you, fatty?

[Rather]

Who is so anal that they care whether or not they are eating trans fat? Is it you, fatty?

A non fat-ass, dumbass.

I bet you order a diet coke with your ten Big Macs

[Warty]

How good is the science on trans fats? I have suspected that they're being unfairly blamed for heart disease because they're usually found in processed food that's full of sugar and shitty carbs, but I don't really know.

[Skonkey]

Basically they block oxygen. This is how they keep food fresh. After you eat them they incorporate into the body, blocking oxygen from the body part they're attached to, e.g., the heart = heart attack.

Of course its nobody's business but yours. But if someone is paying for your health care they'll make it their business.

CSPI was a prime instigator in getting them accepted.

http://www.health-report.co.uk.....nefits.htm

[Paul]

And we think we're just gonna make all drugs legal when I can't smoke ciggy within 20' of a building entrance or eat something mildly unhealthful.

[TrickyVic]

Right.

While it appears pot is making some ground, I think it's mostly an illusion because the trend is moving towards more prohibition, not less.

[Fist of Etiquette]

My BMI is 20. That's in the normal range. So I am the dolphin caught in the tuna nets tossed out there to pluck you fatties from the societal oceans. HOW IS THAT FAIR?

If we must have these bans, they should only apply to lard-asses. There, I said it.

[Paul]

But for this law, you'd be a fat ass.

[TrickyVic]

I miss old New York. The city that would tell you to mind your own business. Not as polite, of course.

[Marshall Gill]

If you haven't seen the movie Fathead I highly recommend it. Not only does it debunk some of this kind of shit, it is also pretty funny.

[Virginia]

Oh good, for a minute there I thought Illinois had a massive deficit and just raised income and corporate taxes. But obviously no state that fucked up would bother entertaining bullshit like a trans fat ban.

[Arcaster]

Yes, yes we would. We also just lost a battle to allow carrying concealed weapons. My state sucks.

[?]

How good is the science on trans fats?

Shit.

Its health-risk estimates are based on the Massachusetts "Nurses' Health Study," the go-to cite for anything anyone wants to ban or mandate. It's a shifting long-term set of poorly controlled questionnaire "studies" (with occasional not-widely-complied-with bio-sample components) of an unrepresentative sample who know what answers are expected of them.

Also, Massachusetts.

[Max]

Gillespie's greatest fear is that they'll ban drivel. There are various way they could come at such a ban. They could make free speech applies only to speech that makes sense. That would sink Reason altogether.

[jtuf]

I am counting the years until I can move out of the greater New York City area.

[Contemplationist]

The supreme irony in all this is of course that food companies and outlets started using trans-fats after the establishment had demonized saturated fats as the devil's seed, which turned out to be a complete hoax.

Vegan fronts such as the "Center for Science in the Public Interest" pushed trans fats instead of butter or coconut oil or beef tallow that the establishments cooked with. When the first evidence poured in about the dangers of trans-fats, these ignominious blowhards denied everything, and now they claim they've never advocated trans fats!