Regulation: Cures for cancer and Ebola having been found, the federal ubernannies have decreed that sprinkles should no longer adorn kids' ice cream because they contain the trans fat that liberal groups once pushed for.
Come the New Year, the Food and Drug Administration, ignoring the principle that in most cases it's the dose that defines the poison, will issue new regulations designed to remove even trace amounts of hydrogenate oils, commonly known as trans fats, from our diets.
Trans fats have been in our foods since the 1950s to increase shelf life and improve taste. A small amount appears naturally in some foods, but research has determined that large quantities of trans fats in one's diet can be dangerous for long-term health.
But so can large quantities of bacon, and no one has proposed banning bacon, at least not yet, but we're sure that thought has occurred to those who want 16-ounce soft drinks banned while forcing our children to eat cardboard school lunches.
Each American consumes a mere 1.3 grams of trans fats per day. That's roughly 0.6% of our total daily calories, and no research suggests that this poses a health risk. But that's not enough to dissuade the federal nannies from regulating even the most minute aspect of our daily lives.
The irony here is that trans fats were once pushed by liberal groups such as the Center for Science in the Public Interest. This poster child for the food police in 1988 published a book titled "Saturate Fat Attack" that condemned the use of saturated and polyunsaturated fats then in vogue. Food companies soon switched to trans fats, a move for which CSPI proudly took credit.
In its Nutrition Action Newsletter on March 1, 1988, CSPI not only downplayed health risks associated with trans fats but promoted them as a health benefit. It even cited a study that found a "significant positive correlation" between trans fats in animal fats and cancer rates.
The nanny state that tells us what cars we should drive, what energy we must use and what health insurance we must buy has told mothers what they can put in their children's school lunches and even whether they can take mom-made lunches to school at all. Slurpees and now sprinkles are a health hazard, according to those who mysteriously know what's good for us.
We'd suggest that freer societies are healthier societies, and that government can have our sprinkle-covered cupcakes when they can pry them from our cold, dead, frosting-stained hands.
Nanny State Strikes
Edited by colion, 30 December 2014 - 08:50 AM.
