# NYC to ban trans fats?? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 27, 2006, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-to-ban-trans-fats/374377 "2006-09-27T16:02:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-to-ban-trans-fats/374377/21 "2006-09-28T22:25:22Z")
This only effects restaurants, not supermarkets. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-to-ban-trans-fats/374377/22 "2006-09-28T22:37:55Z")
[QUOTE=Zebra] This only effects restaurants, not supermarkets. [/QUOTE] Well, there goes the whole civil liberties argument. Food service establishment won’t be able to use trans fats, which means one no longer has to guess if one’s Krispy Kremes are loaded with trans fats or just good, ol’ wholesome saturated fats. I’m not sure how that will affect many baked products, though. Back to lard? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-to-ban-trans-fats/374377/23 "2006-09-28T22:43:20Z")
**Eve** , I’m trying to eat healthy so I don’t die young, and here you are trying to kill me with that wit of yours. Careful or the city will ban that, too. (Then I’ll die of boredom.) [QUOTE=gigi] Can it be policed? Who will complain since there is no second-hand effect, except maybe sight pollution? :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] I’m not sure which thing you’re rolling your eyes at. If you wanted to discuss second-hand effects, I guess the case could be made that as the population becomes more and more overweight (and don’t forget that the population is also becoming older, on average), people with heart trouble and diabetes and other isues related to weight will become an increasing strain on our healthcare system. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-to-ban-trans-fats/374377/24 "2006-09-28T22:51:29Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] I’m not sure which thing you’re rolling your eyes at. If you wanted to discuss second-hand effects, I guess the case could be made that as the population becomes more and more overweight (and don’t forget that the population is also becoming older, on average), people with heart trouble and diabetes and other isues related to weight will become an increasing strain on our healthcare system. [/QUOTE] No, I know. I was trying to think of something analogous to second-hand smoke and didn’t think the pain of seeing obese people compared. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-to-ban-trans-fats/374377/25 "2006-09-28T23:22:48Z")
Similar arguments are made when helmet laws are enacted. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-to-ban-trans-fats/374377/26 "2006-09-28T23:40:53Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] No, I know. I was trying to think of something analogous to second-hand smoke and didn’t think the pain of seeing obese people compared. [/QUOTE] Ah, I see. No, there’s not much of a comparison in that way, but if ‘non-affected’ people are convinced that there will be a financial impact on them, maybe that’s almost as compelling as an impact on their health. Or maybe there’s something of a ‘second-hand’ comparison with overweight parents having overweight children, but I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2006, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-to-ban-trans-fats/374377/27 "2006-09-29T03:53:27Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] No, I know. I was trying to think of something analogous to second-hand smoke and didn’t think the pain of seeing obese people compared. [/QUOTE] You seem to forget that most New Yorkers ride public transportation. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2006, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-to-ban-trans-fats/374377/28 "2006-09-29T06:52:26Z")
[QUOTE=Zebra] You seem to forget that most New Yorkers ride public transportation. [/QUOTE] So they’re just attacking the wrong problem. They shoudln’t be banning trans fat, they should ban public transit! 😃 (Said like a guy living in BFE Arizona with his own car) We’re watching “Supersize Me” in my sociology class, a movie about a guy who eats nothing but McDonalds 3 times a day for 30 days. After watching the first half of it, which involved the guy (who started out in better than average health, slim, etc.) gaining more than 10 pounds in a week, throwing up several times, and having his girlfriend complain about his decreased sexual capacity. After I left campus, I went to McDonalds cause the movie made me realize how long it’d been since I’ve been there :smack: ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2006, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-to-ban-trans-fats/374377/29 "2006-09-29T12:49:11Z")
[QUOTE=Zebra] You seem to forget that most New Yorkers ride public transportation. [/QUOTE] So there will be less seat space available? ---
**Author:** ![crazyjoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@crazyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazyjoe)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2006, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-to-ban-trans-fats/374377/30 "2006-09-29T13:42:11Z")
[QUOTE=SusanStoHelit] I still get caught by a candy bar that lists the calories as 100 per serving, but has 3.5 servings per bar. [/QUOTE] 1. Welcome back. Hope everything was awesome. 2. \ :smack: :smack: :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2006, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-to-ban-trans-fats/374377/31 "2006-09-29T14:47:52Z")
[QUOTE=Eve] _Hey!_ I’m just _chubby!_ And how are they going to keep me out, anyw– What? Oh. _Never mind . . ._ [/QUOTE] That’s fucking hilarious! ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2006, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-to-ban-trans-fats/374377/32 "2006-09-29T15:28:21Z")
[QUOTE=D\_Odds] Well, there goes the whole civil liberties argument. [/QUOTE] In what way? Shouldn’t eating establishments be allowed to sell what they please, as long as it is clearly marked and labeled? I already said I’m in favor of warning labels on food. If people still can’t understand it after it is dumbed down for them (hell, put a picture of the mom from Who’s Eating Gilbert Grape? on the wrapper), that’s not my problem. Why should the general public have their right to buy stuff infringed upon because some people are too misinformed to know what trans fats are? ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2006, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-to-ban-trans-fats/374377/33 "2006-09-29T16:44:17Z")
[QUOTE=davenportavenger] In what way? Shouldn’t eating establishments be allowed to sell what they please, as long as it is clearly marked and labeled? I already said I’m in favor of warning labels on food. If people still can’t understand it after it is dumbed down for them (hell, put a picture of the mom from Who’s Eating Gilbert Grape? on the wrapper), that’s not my problem. Why should the general public have their right to buy stuff infringed upon because some people are too misinformed to know what trans fats are? [/QUOTE] I guess every restaurant I go to is going to have to start handing out nutritional data with their menus. Waiters, in addition to memorizing the specials (and at the restaurants I go to, they do memorize, not read) AND the nutritional label. Perhaps every restaurant, deli, and street vendor in Pittsburgh has this information available and we NYers are just behind the times, but I doubt it. Mayor Bloomberg likened the ban to taking lead out of paint. Paint wasn’t banned, just the harmful substance in it. Personally, I see that metaphor as overboard as ranting about the loss of our civil liberties…ok, not as overboard as the rant, but up there. This isn’t a ban against the corner bodega’s twinkies (which should be labeled) - it’s about prepared food where the data isn’t necessarily available. ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2006, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-to-ban-trans-fats/374377/34 "2006-09-29T17:01:46Z")
[QUOTE=D\_Odds] I guess every restaurant I go to is going to have to start handing out nutritional data with their menus. [/QUOTE] It wouldn’t be that hard to just put a big sign on the wall of McDonald’s with all the nutritional information. Some fast food restaurants already do this–Subway is one. I don’t think the analogy to lead paint chips is accurate. Lead paint will kill or disable you no matter what. Trans fats can kill or disable you if you eat too much of them and become obese, but used sparingly, they aren’t really all that bad. I think it’s more akin to, say, alcohol. There are tons of people who have had their lives ruined by alcohol, but tons of other people who use it in moderation and it causes them no ill effects. Should we ban all alcoholic drinks because some people may become addicted? And I’m sorry, but I don’t see how anyone in this day and age doesn’t know that eating too much fast food will make you fat. It’s like smoking–who doesn’t know that smoking causes cancer? You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure some things out. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2006, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-to-ban-trans-fats/374377/35 "2006-09-29T17:36:12Z")
[QUOTE=davenportavenger] And I’m sorry, but I don’t see how anyone in this day and age doesn’t know that eating too much fast food will make you fat. It’s like smoking–who doesn’t know that smoking causes cancer? You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure some things out. [/QUOTE] This isn’t _just_ about fast food. That’s why I use restaurants as an example, not McDonalds. It’s also about the buffet at the deli; it is also about the pastry chef at the small restaurant. As noted, I didn’t exactly side with Mayor Bloomberg either. If trans fats all give way to mono- and polyunsaturated fats, maybe there’s a small benefit. However, if instead we see a rise in saturated fats, the gain, if any, is negligible. I’m not siding with the ban - it’s a band-aid on the left arm when the right leg is bleeding. I just don’t see where there’s a civil liberties argument. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-to-ban-trans-fats/374377.md?page=1)