Boston Set to Ban Trans Fats

Posted by Baylen on Mar. 13, 2008

Boston, a city known for (among other things) having a fat, know-it-all mayor who tells other people how to eat, is set to ban trans fats today.

Anne McHugh, project director for Boston Steps, a chronic disease prevention program at the Boston Public Health Commission, said banning trans fats will save lives.

“There’s very strong research showing that trans fat consumption is significantly related to increased heart disease risk,” McHugh said.

If approved today, businesses will have six months to eliminate oils and spreads that contain trans fats. Within a year, hospitals, schools and eateries will have to eliminate trans fats from baked goods and other products, McHugh said.

Anne McHugh knows what’s best for you. No, seriously. Here’s McHugh quoted earlier this year at Boston.com:

“There is no need to have artificial trans fat,” said Anne McHugh, project director of the health department’s Boston Steps program, which combats obesity, diabetes, and other chronic diseases. “It’s just bad.”

And here’s McHugh quoted in CSNews.com:

“We’re working on many fronts to try and influence children’s eating behaviors,” Anne McHugh, director of the Boston Public Health Commission’s Boston Steps program, told the paper. “Sugary drinks are just empty calories without any nutritional value, and it’s an area where we think we can have influence.”

McHugh also analogized adults to “toddlers” in a Jamaica Plain Gazette piece last year.

Finally, here’s an early internal document (PDF) that shows how the well-funded Boston Steps is suffering from a bad case of mission creep.

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    “'There’s very strong research showing that trans fat consumption is significantly related to increased heart disease risk,' McHugh said."

    Oh? Among many -
    http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2007/05/spe...
    "... the trans fat scare campaign has tried to convince lawmakers and the public that this “unnatural fat” is deadly and even the tiny amount in our diet is a 'risk factor' for everything from heart disease, cancer to infertility. The trouble is, there isn’t even a credible association they can hang their hat on. Not a single population study has been able to show even a link between trans fats or any other dietary fat and heart disease. Not only has our consumption of trans fats not changed in half a century, while we’ve been eating all of this supposedly bad stuff, the actual health of Americans has improved enormously, we’ve gained more than seven years in life expectancy; and heart disease and most cancers have dropped."

    http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2007/01/hid...
    "... the FDA, after years reviewing all available evidence on transfats, said in its July 2003, 260-page ruling (Docket No. 94P-0036), that any fears of a public health concern from the small amounts of transfats in our diets were not supported by the evidence. These fatty acids, in reality, haven't been shown to be better or worse than any other dietary fat. The FDA expert panel specifically stated that transfats needn’t be eliminated from the diet and they refused to establish a daily recommended intake due to lack of evidence."

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