Nannyism in New York

Avoiding eating trans fats is a good idea.  Avoiding cooking with trans fats is a good idea.  But this is a very bad idea.

The Board of Health voted Tuesday to make New York the nation's first city to ban artery-clogging artificial trans fats at restaurants -- from the corner pizzeria to high-end bakeries.
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Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who banned smoking in bars and restaurants during his first term, is somewhat health-obsessed, and even maintains a monthly weight-loss competition with one of his friends in order to stay slim.

He has dismissed cries that New York is crossing a line by trying to legislate diets.

"Nobody wants to take away your french fries and hamburgers -- I love those things, too," he said recently. "But if you can make them with something that is less damaging to your health, we should do that."

Yes, we should.  But we shouldn't have to.

I'm sure I won't miss the trans fats.  And I'll likely be healthier for it (though I may also be paying more for it).  I think all restaurants should stop using trans fats.  By all accounts, they're unnecessary and terrible for you.  The American public is becoming increasingly aware of that.  As they do, they are increasingly demanding trans fat-free options, a market force which has already encouraged Wendy's, KFC, and Taco Bell to begin moving away from trans fats on a chain-wide basis.

This is all welcome news.  But to outlaw the preparation of food using trans fats within the city limits begins to encroach on freedom.  If you want to cook up something unhealthy and I want to eat it, so long as you're adequately disclosing what you've made, you and I should be able to make a deal.

The fact that public awareness is already causing the industry to transition away from trans fats means that this governmental overreach is not only untoward, it's unnecessary.  But just because government meddling is unnecessary doesn't mean it's without unintended consequences.

New York's move to ban trans fats has mostly been applauded by health and medical groups, although the American Heart Association warns that if restaurants aren't given ample time to make the switch, they could end up reverting to ingredients high in saturated fat, like palm oil.

Well, at least we'll get to pay more for it.

What's more, the Food Bank For New York City asserts that the ban will serve to increase the percentage of food with trans fats served each year to 1.2 million hungry New Yorkers.  And the higher overall cost food cost means we can expect less of it coming from local donations and diminished purchasing power of a given level of emergency food assistance funding.

So while those who can afford to eat will feel very progressive and healthfully self-satisfied with their self-imposed freedom quashing ways, hungry New Yorkers who depend on taxpayer assistance to eat will find less food available (and when available, more trans fatty).

Government control doesn't just systematically rob us of freedoms.  It almost always befouls the whole system.

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