The next big issue in the United States?

I've heard the health-nut-mudderfudders are targetting caffeine as soon as they can get cigarettes or alcohol banned. They hate everything that isn't organic eggplant.

If they ban caffeine, everybody dies.

I'm sorry I have to do that, but I'm pushing the button.

(Yes, I have a doomsday machine. So what?)

I've got my bunker. It should be ok. 10,000 cans of ravioli-os, and a box of Wolverine comics.

Another tough issue.

How do you balance personal freedom with the affect and/or effect that freedom has on the general public?

Hmmmf.



I've always said, I don't care if you shoot heroin in the basement of your house, while smoking crack and driving your motorcycle without a helmet.

But if you slam into the pole supporting the house and have to get rushed to the hospital, you are a blight on the health insurance industry and then you are blight on my pocket.

Hmmmf.

Ban trans fat?

I don't care if you eat trans fat and die.

But I do care that health costs are out of control and the obesity problem in the country is going to sap the system.

So...

Thrilly says....

Ban it!

Thank you.

P.S. But the food better taste the same.

Thank you.

P.S.S. I reserve the right to have my opinion evolve on this issue.

dclary said:

I've got my bunker. It should be ok. 10,000 cans of ravioli-os, and a box of Wolverine comics.

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If you add coffee to that list I will be so there..
If they do ban coffee, you may as well just shoot me.

Since caffeine is naturally occurring--and used (somewhat like marijuana) in some legal medicines--I don't see a ban on caffeine anytime soon.

I personally wouldn't care if smoking and alcohol were banned tomorrow besides from the whole "prohibition doesn't work" thing. Hence, no ban.

I'm all for a ban on trans-fats because they are ARTIFICIAL to begin with. Do I want a ban on chicken stock and butter? No, because these aren't cooked up in a lab somewhere (aside from the fact that I'm a vegetarian, and don't eat foods with animal stocks in them anyway). Trans-fats are not naturally occurring, and I ask you: if plastic were edible, would you REALLY want it in your cheeseburger just because it saved McDonald's a few dollars?

PS--I'm not a health nut by the way. If the FDA bans chocolate and baked goods, the revolution will be televised.

engmajor2005 said:

PS--I'm not a health nut by the way. If the FDA bans chocolate and baked goods, the revolution will be televised.

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FYI:
The new catch phrase is "the revolution will be youtubed."

Enjoy.

Did I hear someone mention a ban on alcohol??? Because oh sweet Lord there will be consequences & repercussions if somebody touches my Hpnotiq...

dahmnait said:

Billy,

I understand the issues regarding the health system, but is legislation such as this the answer? Where does it stop?

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No, I know.

It's a tough issue.

If the food tastes the same, I say ban it.

There's poison that is banned from being allowed in foods.

They're saying this transfat is poison.

So...



I'm not bothered by the ban.

Like I've always said, just because we go........here.

Doesn't mean one day we end up................................................................................................................................................................................................................here.(Fast food restaurants banned, everyone living off weeds and organic dirt,etc)

billythrilly7th said:

They're saying this transfat is poison.

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It ain't the elixir of life, that's for sure:

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/transfats.html

In 1981, a group of Welsh researchers speculated that trans fat might be linked with heart disease.(5) A 1993 Harvard study strongly supported the hypothesis that intake of partially hydrogenated vegetable oils contributed to the risk of having a heart attack.(3) In that study, the researchers estimated that replacing just 2% of energy from trans fat with healthy unsaturated fat would decrease the risk of coronary heart disease by about one-third. An influential symposium on trans fat later in the 1990s drew public attention to the issue.

Today we know that eating trans fats increases levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL, "bad" cholesterol), especially the small, dense LDL particles that are most damaging to arteries. It lowers levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) particles, which scour blood vessels for bad cholesterol and truck it to the liver for disposal. It increases the tendency of blood platelets to clump and form potentially artery-blocking clots. It also fires inflammation,(6)an overactivity of the immune system that has been implicated in heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and other chronic conditions.

This four-pronged attack on blood vessels translates into heart disease and death. Replacing partially hydrogenated fat in the U.S. diet with healthy unsaturated vegetable oils would prevent at least 30,000 premature deaths from heart disease each year, and as many as 100,000.(7)

Thanks, FDA:

Now that the once-ubiquitous but invisible trans fats are listed in bold print on food labels, it's easier to spot them in packaged foods. Keep in mind, though, that according to the FDA, a product claiming to have zero trans fat can actually contain up to a half gram. (Canada set a different standard of zero as under 0.2 grams.) So you may still want to scan the ingredient list for "partially hydrogenated vegetable oil" and "vegetable shortening," and look for an alternative product without those words, especially if it's something you eat regularly.

WTF? Is that like it's okay to have no more than five rat hairs per jar of baby food? Actually, it's not the same thing, because the jar of baby food doesn't say "Zero rat hairs" on it. *sigh* I guess I expect too much out of my f**king tax dollars.

dahmnait said:

There is a list of what is allowed in food. I could find it, but I don't know. I don't think you really want to know what you are potentially eating.

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Meh. I spent seven years in the Army, including a few trips to Africa. I've eaten some pretty nasty stuff. It's amazing what you'll eat when you've missed a meal or ten.

Oh, man. Some memories are better left blocked...

The government has banned a whole number things it deemed unhealthy - all that served some other purpose that were easily replaceable. Asbestos, food dyes, dietary supplements. The potential benefit is weighed against risk - trans fat serves no purpose other fats cannot fill, only its cheaper, and had an added risk.

I'm all for personal responsibility when it comes to health, but we can't rely on most people to make good choices. In this case, they become a burden on a overburdened healthcare system.

Hey don't worry you can still go here.

Os.

Good god, trans fats are evil! I'd have a helluva lot more respect for eateries here if they were banned. It's like soaking your food in lard, for goodness' sake.

All trans fats do is give food a longer shelf life - there's no nutritional value in them at all, and they make people fat and give them heart disease.

I mean, people are actually complaining about this ban? I applaud it! Seriously, it could save lives!

A good idea, or another example of people not taking responsibility for their own lives?

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Well, you can't choose to add or subtract trans-fats from food if you're eating at a restaurant. It's not as if there's a bottle of transfat on the table next to the salt and pepper. So it's not necessarily a personal responsibility issue -- particularly when restaurants don't list on their menu, "Steak au poivre, cooked in a cream-and-trans-fat sauce."

oswann said:

Hey don't worry you can still go here.

Os.

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Sweet baby Jesus why would anybody WANT a burger that big?

I don't know, but lord I want one!

Yeah, I know. I think I need to lose about 140 pounds before they'll consider me combat worthy.

That's a whole freaking Thrilly.

This place made the news over here. Burger served with a packet of cigarettes and a nurse who wheels you out in wheelchair when you're finished. The French couldn't believe it.


Os.