Trans-Fat Ban

Thanks to Calgary’s proposed municipal Trans-Fat ban Trans-Fats are back in the news. The Canadian government wants to limit Trans-fat as well, but it has a considerably longer time frame, which is what prompted Calgary’s move. I think such a ban is a silly idea, especially on a municipal scale, how exactly does Calgary plan to regulate and enforce it? Calgary does not produce all of its own food, it comes from outside sources, do they really expect to be able to get all of the companies that provide the food for them to suddenly change their production method just to appease one city?

I also don’t believe that a nation wide ban is a wise way to go. Rather then ban trans-fat wouldn’t it be better, and cheaper, to offer tax breaks to zero trans-fat producers and enforce stricter labeling guidelines? The government should not act as a nanny protecting us from what we choose to put into our bodies, if I want to eat something with 500g of trans-fat its my funeral, no one else’s. Yes, I know, people who get trans-fat induced heart attacks are a drain on our badly damaged health care system, but there is a solution to that as well. The health care system needs to be seriously overhauled.

What should be done to reduce trans-fats is, as I stated above, give a tax credit for any product created that has zero trans-fats, plus charge an added tax to any product sold with over a certain percentage of trans-fats, change the labeling requirements so that the amount of transfats in any product (on the shelf or in a restaurant) is clearly visable, and invest in education so that people know the dangers of transfats.