Howdy FQ. LTNS.
See post 506 for some science on just how toxic they are - and there were other posts early in the thread if that's not enough. So if you can show this "painfully obvious" you'll be the first one here. I've been asking for anyone at all to demonstrate any redeeming qualities at all. So far, crickets.
That is really coming at it backwards though. It does not need a ‘redeeming’ quality. The quality is that I want to eat it. Beyond that, the government should have to make the case that it is too toxic to ingest rather than the other way around.
They already have. That's the whole point. As some have pointed out, that's old news and the FDA acting on it is overdue.
You "want to eat it"? Why? This is another question that's been sitting unmolested -- what would you be deprived of exactly? Seriously, you're the first poster who claims a desire to eat this stuff at all. What for?
That is how freedom works pogo – you don’t limit activities because <insert agency here> has not proven that it is safe. That is asinine. You limit those activities once you proven them unsafe. Here we have trans fats that are proven without a doubt to be safer than MANY things that we ingest. Such things like alcohol are FAR worse yet those are readily available.
Cool your jets. That's not what I said.
What the FDA proposes to do is to remove them from its own GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) list. When you're on that list (as trans fats are now) you don't have to prove you're safe to go into food. When you're off it, you do. So what would happen is that present or future trans fats would be required to show that they're not. And yes, ANY artificial chemical proposed to go into the public food supply has to be proven safe. That goes without saying. You don't just pick up random objects off the street and eat them, do you?
Whether they're more or less safe than other unrelated things is entirely irrelevant. Those other things get evaluated on their own. This is not a comparison.
Alcohol IS regulated though so I guess you can try and come at it from that angle but I would be willing to bet that not a single use of trans fat can be compared to completely legal alcoholic drinks as far as destructive and harmful effects go. Abusing trans fat is going to be less harmful than abusing alcohol.
Not in terms of heart disease it isn't. Have you even read the research and conclusions? I have to ask because you're literally the first poster in this thread that implies trans fats have any kind of positive at all.
Further, post 506 that you point to is a list of DRUGS and their affects which are FAR different than basic foods. Not a single one of those instances is comparable to trans fat. There is a world of difference between drugs and food.
I beg your pardon. I got my post numbers mixed up. I meant to refer you to post
524. Sorry 'bout that.
Second, people don't always "choose" any such thing. If it's not present on the label, or disguised when it is, there's no such choice.
Then there's restaurants. No "choice" there either.
Which is why labeling should be required and is the direction that the FDA should go. You are allowed to take a cancer stick, put it in your mouth and light up. That is your right. However, the company MUST warn you about those harmful effects and label the products accordingly. I have no qualms with requiring companies to be honest. I don’t care if the FDA demands that the companies put a big sticker on the front that states THIS FOOD WILL KILL YOU – as long as the end decision is MINE. Something that banning and controlling a substance does NOT allow.
Restaurants?
I think you are thinking of the wrong post… that one has nothing about laden products.
Either way, the fact that there are products with it is irrelevant. The facts are that average consumption has move from 5.8 to 1.3 in the last decade. That means the market IS taking care of that as people are more health conscious now than ever. They are taking care of it – the government is NOT needed here.
I thought I made this point, but the only reason the "market is taking care of that" is that the government (FDA) required it to be labeled. The market
does not do this by itself. I've also pointed out, the objective of a food company (or any company) is to make a profit -- not to look out for the health or well being of its customers. Again, R.J. Reynolds and their ilk are a perfect example. Some entity
MUST oversee what corporatia is doing when public health is involved.
I seem to see no shortage of energy directed at the government's penchant for controlling our lives, which is all well and good, but I see an acute dearth of the same energy directed at corporatia's penchant to do the same thing. And that's a problem, especially considering which of those entities has more power over the other.
And fourth, nobody's "banning" or "controlling" anything -- the proposal is to take trans fats off the FDA's own GRAS list. An ingredient being on that list means it doesn't have to justify that it's safe. If you can make that case you can get approved.
Now why would you want a chemical in your food that doesn't have to justify its safety?
Yes they are. They have already started in places like NY – the favorite nanny state city. That is EXACTLY where they are going with this.
government agency said Thursday it would require food makers to gradually phase out artificial trans fats
FDA moves to phase out trans fats from food, citing health concerns - NBC News.com
The FDA DIRECTLY said that they are moving to ban the substance. Are you telling me that the director is lying?
No, they didn't. Not sure where this is coming from-- your link doesn't even mention a "director". I am telling you OP of this thread is lying though.
Here's the actual FDA press release. And I quote:
>>
Following a review of the submitted comments, if the FDA finalizes its preliminary determination, PHOs would be considered “food additives” and could not be used in food unless authorized by regulation. <<
That's not a 'ban'. I don't care what the media calls it in its headlines.
More from
this FDA page on GRAS:
>>
Part of the FDA's responsibility to the public is to ensure that food in the American food supply is safe. Therefore, due to the risks associated with consuming PHOs, FDA has issued a Federal Register notice with its preliminary determination that PHOs are no longer "generally recognized as safe," or GRAS, for short. If this preliminary determination is finalized, then PHOs would become food additives subject to premarket approval by FDA. Foods containing unapproved food additives are considered adulterated under U.S. law, meaning they cannot legally be sold. <<
And more about GRAS from the same page:
>>
Under section 409 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, any substance intentionally added to food is a food additive subject to premarket approval and review by FDA, with some exceptions. The exceptions include substances "generally recognized as safe," or GRAS, because they are generally recognized by qualified experts as safe under the conditions of intended use. <<
-- said qualified experts no longer recognize trans fats as safe, therefore FDA is
obligated to take them off the GRAS list. THAT is what FDA is proposing to do.
I tire of the government demanding that it needs to make decisions for me and my family. That is not what the government is there for. Its existence is to protect my rights and instead they are more interested in taking them away in the name of ‘my own good.’ That should be appalling to anyone in this nation. WE are taking care of the problem. WE are reducing intake of trans fats with little more than labeling requirements (which are always a good thing IMHO).
The government (i.e. our federal gov't) has been doing that since 1848, around the time when food started to get industrialized and mass produced. The GRAS list is part of the Food Additives Amendment of 1958 so it's been with us since you and I were kids if not before. And other institutional food screening goes back at least
seven hundred years (see
post 497). If your "rights" have been taken away for seven hundred years, you might need to remind me what they were. I understand they had some awesome diseases in 1311.
Again, this is the FDA's
job -- to ensure that unscrupulous merchants aren't selling us death. Whether that be food, drugs or cosmetics. It's
exactly what they're there for.
Sorry about that errant post number but I think you'll find 524 far more to the point. Let me know if you can find anything good to say about trans fats after that. Again the underlying question is: what exactly are you being deprived of? Heart disease?
Finally try to answer this in real world terms of the practical -- rather than abstract terms of the ideological.