NYT,pg1: Hold (trans fats) NYC Asks Its Restaurants(first request of kind)

[DeepModem Mom]

Hold That Fat, New York Asks Its Restaurants
By MARC SANTORA
Published: August 11, 2005


The New York City health department urged all city restaurants yesterday to stop serving food containing trans fats, chemically modified ingredients that health officials say significantly increase the risk of heart disease and should not be part of any healthy diet.

The request, the first of its kind by any large American city, is the latest salvo in the battle against trans fats, components of partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, which three decades ago were promoted as a healthy alternative to saturated fats like butter.

Today, most scientists and nutrition experts agree that trans fat is America's most dangerous fat and recommend the use of alternatives like olive and sunflower oils.

"To help combat heart disease, the No. 1 killer in New York City, we are asking restaurants to voluntarily make an oil change and remove artificial trans fat from their kitchens," said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the city's health commissioner, who compared trans fats to asbestos and lead as public health threats. "We are also urging food suppliers to provide products that are trans-fat free."

It is far from clear how many restaurants will heed the call of Dr. Frieden, one of the city's most activist public health commissioners in a generation....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/11/nyregion/11fat.html

[Lorien]

1. I can't imagine that fast food and chain restaurants will play along

hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated vegetable oils are cheap to produce. It's all about the profit in the end. Good of Dr. Frieden to help bring about awareness of the dangers of consuming the stuff, though.

[Voltaire99]

2. We should sin tax the fast food industry into extinction.

Society bears the costs of McDonald's and its ilk's war on health. No reason we should subsidize its profits.