Unless you've been hiding out in a cave lately, you've probably heard about the horrific dangers of trans fats - partially hydrogenated vegetable oils found in processed cookies, cakes, crackers, breads, doughnuts, and deep-fried French fries, etc. — which can lead to an increased risk of coronary heart disease.
In fact, Harvard researchers believe just getting rid of trans fats could prevent between 30,000 to 100,000 premature deaths annually, as they reported in the New England Journal of Medicine earlier this year.
Although in January this year the FDA began requiring all manufacturers label those potentially hazardous fats, eateries nationwide have been continuing to use the potentially deadly fat.
Now, nutrition-minded people who live or work in New York have a golden opportunity for their voices to be heard and to help influence lawmakers so that trans fats will be given the boot from Manhattan restaurants.
On Monday, October 30, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. (at 125 Worth Street, 2nd Floor, near City Hall), the New York City Board of Health's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is holding public hearings to consider a groundbreaking proposal (81.08) to strictly limit this man-made toxic substance from restaurants.
That same day, from noon to 2 p.m., join hundreds of us when we show support for the proposal by attending a public outdoor event rally sponsored by Trans Fat Free NYC at Thomas Paine Park directly across from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The goal is to show politicians there's a tremendous amount of support for this ban-trans-fat proposal.
If New York restaurants stop using trans fats, it will become the second city in the U.S. to do so, following the lead of the much vastly smaller city of Tiburon, in northern California, which now works with restaurant owners and managers in the area's 18 restaurants to avoid trans fats in cooking oil or frying.
Article comments
1 - RedTard
The food nazis out in full force. Please tend to your own diet and I will to mine.
2 - Kyle
As far as I know, I'm still allowed to choose my own religion. I'm still allowed to vote for the guy I want in office. I can read the books I want to read. I'm assured that my own government won't spy on me without a warrant... oh, wait not that one.
I can only hope that government, city or otherwise will allow me to continue to make my own dietary choices as well.
If you want restaurants to disclose that they use trans-fats, sure whatever. But don't tell them or me what I can choose to eat. What's next, government mandated fruit and vegetable quotas?
Give me a friggin' break.