North Star Writers Group

Thank goodness for those ever-alert health officials in New York City. Along with keeping denizens of that great metropolis safe from insects, rodents, contaminated food and second-hand smoke, they now want to rid them of insidious, odious trans fatty acids, otherwise known as partially hydrogenated oils.

Never mind that trans fatty acids have been around for decades and are widespread among processed foods. The Big Apple’s health squad has proposed banning any of the city's more than 24,000 foodservice establishments from using ingredients that contain partially hydrogenated oil.

(Full disclosure alert: I help handle public relations for a grocery company. It does not operate in New York and won’t be affected by this proposed law, but it might be affected by federal legislation regarding trans fats in supermarket items.)

This is all for our own good, of course. Medical research currently indicates that trans fats are unhealthy in almost any amount.

Ah, this situation brings back such fond memories of other officials (federal) who strove valiantly to keep us safe from “killer” foods. Back in the 1970s, then-current research suggested that the artificial sweetener saccharin could cause cancer. In the ensuing uproar, the substance was yanked from all foods and, some years later, we got aspartame, the supposedly “safe” alternative that was developed, in part, with federal funding.

I drank plenty of diet sodas sweetened with saccharin and never once had any kind of negative reaction. When I started using aspartame in my coffee, however, I developed a bright red, itchy spot in my left palm and the jitters. Neither went away until I gave up aspartame (and learned to drink my coffee au nature).

Then it turns out that saccharin is lethal only in doses so large that no one could consume enough to die of it. Today we can choose between saccharin (in a pretty pink packet), aspartame (in baby blue) and additional artificial sweeteners (like sucralose, the pale yellow wrapper). And diet sodas sweetened with aspartame still taste like crap.

My points? First, the problem with making laws or policy based on current scientific research is that said research is not set up to prove anything. Instead, experiments are designed to disprove a theory, called a hypothesis. If a series of experiments cannot disprove a hypothesis, then said hypothesis gains wider acceptance as most likely accurate. Such acceptance, however, is always subject to yet another experiment that ultimately disproves the theory. Conclusions that may later prove to be inaccurate or misdirected are a poor foundation for laws that coerce certain behaviors and cost millions to implement.

Second, whatever happened to freedom of choice? New Yorkers over the age of 18 are adults and have the right to make their own food choices. They don’t need the Food Gestapo misusing legislation to force certain food choices on them.

Doctors have the right to cite their latest research in urging us to avoid trans fats, and long-overdue government labeling instituted at the beginning of this year makes it easer to find those ingredients. Now that we have these tools, we have the right to use them at our own discretion.

Third, what about high-fructose corn syrup? I haven’t heard anything about this ingredient, which is just as widespread (if not more so) than partially hydrogenated oils and may well be just as unhealthy. I know from my own body’s reaction to high-fructose corn syrup that I fare best avoiding the stuff. But I would never dream of mandating that others do likewise.

Fourth and finally, there is a very disturbing trend here of certain groups using the law to circumscribe or outright ban actions, like smoking or eating trans fatty acids, of which they disapprove. So-called conservatives tend to use the law to ban any kind of sex they decry as immoral, while so-called liberals want to legislate their versions of healthy habits and force the rest of us to go along with it. Odd how it’s always for our own good, and they have either the scripture or the data to “prove” it.

Enough already. I’m fed up (pun intended) with all of those who want to regulate my behaviors to suit their personal agendas. Butt out. Leave me to enjoy my favorite ice cream in peace.

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