The FDA is announcing Thursday that it will require the food industry to gradually phase out trans fats, saying they are a threat to people’s health.
Commissioner Margaret Hamburg says the move could prevent 20,000 heart attacks a year and 7,000 deaths.
Hamburg says that while the amount of trans fats in the country’s diet has declined dramatically in the last decade, they “remain an area of significant public health concern.”
The agency isn’t yet setting a timeline for the phase-out, but will collect comments for two months before officials determine how long it will take.
Trans fat is widely considered the worst kind of fat for your heart. They are often found in processed foods, including some microwave popcorns and frozen pizzas, refrigerated doughs and ready-to-use frostings.
(AP)
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8 Responses
For the Federal government, and in particular an administrative agency with no clear legislative mandate to do so, to define normal foods as toxic is highly questionable under the constitution. The FDA’s legislative mandate never included mandating nutrition. There will be an interesting court case on the matter.
I guess NYC was ahead of the curve.
akuperma- this isn’t a nutritional issue but rather a health issue. Under the Food & Drug Act the FDA is charged with protecting the health and well being of citizens and residents of the US. So it would (legally) fall under their jurisdiction.
I can’t wait for this to go to court. There is little to no CONCLUSIVE evidence that this is fact.
Folks, just think about this VERY SERIOUSLY for a second. When you allow the government to get involved in your healthcare, which should be YOUR PERSONAL DECISION AND NO ONE ELSE’S, you also allow the nanny govt to tell you what your could eat and how much you could eat all under the guise of “healthcare. ” Your personal freedom is being taken away more and more and more by these “do gooder” socialist liberal democrats, because you are allowing it to happen.
Chazal was right, ” Ayzehu chochom ha’roeh es ha’nolad.” Stop and think where all this is going. This isn’t going in a good direction at all.
It looks good to outlaw trans fats because of all the bad press they’ve received. Of course, saturated fats are just as bad, but it’s clearly impossible to ban them, because they’re ubiquitous (and natural). So they go for the easy target which looks the best politically.
Left Brooklyn is correct. The FDA clearly has constitutional and statutory authority to ban any dangerous or potentially dangerous food that might cross state lines. There likely will be no court case; no food manufacturer wants to be getting publicity defending an alleged right to sell dangerous food!
Whichever side uber socialist Charlatan Hall is on, we KNOW the correct side is the opposite.
Guys, every doctor and scientist agrees that trans fats are dangerous. There are boatloads of evidence and this has been accepted as conclusive truth for a long time.
I worked with the largest consumer packaged goods companies in the World. They have all been moving away from trans fats for years because they recognized the danger continued use of these fats would have on their sales.
This