Time To Ban Trans-Fats

[maplesyrup]

NDP urges ban on trans fats

NDP Leader Jack Layton wants Canada to become the second country in the world to ban processed trans fats.

He says his New Democrats will introduce a motion in the House of Commons on Nov. 18 to outlaw the unhealthy fats found in everything from fast food to peanut butter. Canadians eat an average of 10 grams of trans fats a day - one of the highest rates in the world.

A gram of trans fat is up to 10 times more dangerous to heart health than a gram of saturated fat.

The World Health Organization recommends countries eliminate processed trans fats, as Denmark did last year.

I think this is a good idea and support it.

Our food producers/industry act like they have no responsibility about the ramifications concerning the food we eat, yet they they spend billions of dollars every year trying to manipulate us into eating their products. Why don't they take a few million and help us to educate ourselves about what is going on? It is almost impossible to figure out what the ingredients are, of their products, what they weigh, with their one day metric, the next day pounds and ounces. Why can't we adopt the metric system and get it over with?

[Big Blue Machine]

They can put what they want in the food, we can just not chose to buy the foods.

[maplesyrup]

Very few have a clue about what is in the food they eat.

And that is the producers fault, because of their lack of proper labeling. Most packaging is designed to conceal and deceive. Why is it very time I go grocery shopping I feel like I am dealing with the enemy?

[Stoker]

NDP to table motion to force Canadians to eat their veggies and wash behind their ears..

[Big Blue Machine]

There are only two food groups. There is Meat and Salt.

[maplesyrup]

Junk Food Adverts 'Banished During Children's Tv'

The NDP in Canada are obviously once again on the correct track, leading the way to promote better lifestyle for Canadians. At least the NDP realizes the cost to our health care system created by unhealthy eating habits.

[Big Blue Machine]

Little children shouldn't be eating junk food.

[Cartman]

What!? There is an argument about this issue? If corporations can make a simple change in production to ensure the health of everyone, then why not do it? To those opposed, do you have a sense of why government even exists? At least Hugo sincerely believes that government should not exist at all, but I doubt even s/he would expect it to take a nonchalant attitude towards known harm.

Corporations that sell food products are expected to sell a legitimate and safe product. You cannot just go out there and knowingly sell poisoned food. If government stops corporations from doing so, they are not being overly restrictive, because all corporations accept this responsibility and benefit from it. In fact, they rely upon it to sell their products and profit. If a bad apple does make profit in such a situation, then it hurts legitimate sellers. In the very least, no corporation will be hurt by such a regulation. And finally, it does nothing to diminish choice. I doubt many Canadians will be protesting to demand trans-fats in their food.

[kimmy]

One company (I think it was Voortman's cookies) got some positive press a while ago by removing trans-fats from all of its products.

The president said it was the right thing to do, and confessed that it didn't actually take a lot of effort to do it.

-kimmy

[Cartman]

If a bad apple does make profit in such a situation, then it hurts legitimate sellers.

Oops, I mean when bad apples sell harmful products.

Just want to make sure.

[takeanumber]

It turns out that trans-fats are really all that harmful.

Guess nobody sent you the memo.

We're all adults here. Use Canada's food guide.

[Big Blue Machine]

Stop buying foods with trans fats in them.

[Guest eureka]

You are right about Voortman's, Kimmy. Another major corporation - I can't remmeber which one but think it is a fast food chain - had set a target of eliminating trans fats but has not been able to find an appropriate substitute.

It may not be quite so easy as we think without removing certain foods, probably French Fries, from our diets. If that is the one, I will have to keep consuming a little of the sinful tastes.

[kimmy]

Stop buying foods with trans fats in them.

Here's a challenge, Big Blue... go to your kitchen and look through everything on your shelves. See if you can guess which ones have trans-fats. Read the labels. I bet you can't figure out which ones have trans-fats in them.

-kimmy

[Stoker]

I don't mind removing trans-fats, I just don't need the Nanny state telling me whats bad and whats good for me.......

If the government is soooo worried in what I put into MY body, why is there not a ban on tobacco and alcohol

products?

With that said, I'd have not a problem with forcing companies that use trans-fats to label their products as such.

[Cartman]

I believe in labeling rules, but they do not always work. When France wanted to label US beef because of drug residue and growth hormones, the US took them to court WTO and won. France was ordered to stop their labeling procedures or face sanctions.

[Big Blue Machine]

Comapnies should put everything on a label.

[Slavik44]

labeling woudl be better then baning, and woudl accomplish something. Think about when your on a diet one of the key foods to avoid is low fat foods, yes they get rid of the fat, but it is replaced with so much crap and sugar that it comes out with 3 times the calories, and is just as bad for you. Baning trans fats in foods is like putting a wolf in sheeps clothing, it will nto stop beign a wolf, and irresponsible eating will not stop being dangerous, who cares if they replace one evil with another.

[Big Blue Machine]

You can't ban a certain kind of fat.

[maplesyrup]

Canada may ban U.S. snacks

Canadians may be forced to do without American cookies, cereal, chips and many other tasty treats as MPs from all parties expressed support Thursday for an NDP motion that would make Canada the second country in the world to ban trans fats.

Conservative health critic Stephen Fletcher thanked NDP MP Pat Martin Thursday for being open to changes to the party's opposition day motion, saying the two MPs from opposite sides of the political spectrum were able to hammer out common ground.

"If we need to make a choice between the shelf life of people versus the shelf life of doughnuts, the Conservative Party of Canada will always support the shelf life of people," said Fletcher.

It may be a small step but this is a win-win situation for the NDP.

It kicke the US ass in the pocketbook and makes Canadians healthier.

I like it.

[JWayne625]

Why don't they take a few million and help us to educate ourselves about what is going on?

On an episode of CBC Coounterpoint I watched, a representitive of the corporate sector stated quite clearly that corporations feel that it is not their responsibility to contribute to the socail safety net for Canadian's or any other country, and Education falls under that umbrella. Their only concern is the corporate bottom line that they are able to split with their shareholders. Society is not theri concern until judges sometimes bring them back to reality by slapping them with judgements, when someone rightfully sues their asses. The problem is that outcome doesn't happen often enough for them to get the message that they are in fact responsible.

It's like the insurance industry that sells people Disability Insurance, but when someone files a claim under that policy, the insurance industry uses every tactic they can think of to avoid paying the claim, including outright refusal, regardless of medical evidence. In many cases, they force the claimant to seek redress through the courts. They then cry because too many people are suing them, and seek increases in premiums citing high payout percentages.

[Slavik44]

Canada may ban U.S. snacks

Canadians may be forced to do without American cookies, cereal, chips and many other tasty treats as MPs from all parties expressed support Thursday for an NDP motion that would make Canada the second country in the world to ban trans fats.

Conservative health critic Stephen Fletcher thanked NDP MP Pat Martin Thursday for being open to changes to the party's opposition day motion, saying the two MPs from opposite sides of the political spectrum were able to hammer out common ground.

"If we need to make a choice between the shelf life of people versus the shelf life of doughnuts, the Conservative Party of Canada will always support the shelf life of people," said Fletcher.

It may be a small step but this is a win-win situation for the NDP.

It kicke the US ass in the pocketbook and makes Canadians healthier.

I like it.

I don't think it does make Canadians healthier, I realise that fats are the boogieman of the obese, and all. However, The are the taste of your food, take the source of the taste away and you will ahve to find a new source, and alot of the time it ends up beign somethign with more calories then the original, I would refrain from saying Canadians will be so much healthier. I think a large part of this is playign to the crowd, or tryign to gain popularity with a bill as popular as this, it woudl be political suicide to vote no. But I wonder wether it is to much more then good publicity, and simply misleading Canadains.