California becomes first US state to ban trans fats

awesome

i hate how this works... he makes a decision right now - but it takes 2 years to be enforced. I could shove my face with butter and die in that amount of time.

Restaurants cooking fries in a healthier way isn't taking away your freedom. This is a step in the right direction -- cutting out unhealthy, unnecessary food products.

wow that's pretty cool. But I don't know how I feel about the government telling us what we can and can not put in to our bodies.

cool! thank you for feeding me, Arnny in 2010.

Good, now go get on your bike and stop eating meat, fatty. ; )

yeah yeah... You can say all you want about how the ban is for the health of the general public.. but the only reason this ban is going through is because eating healthy is a popular subject right now, and there's nobody to lobby in favor of trans-fats.

There are plenty of things that are bad for the public that California would never touch, like, as somebody mentioned earlier, sunbathing. Everyone knows it gives people skin cancer, but there's no way the state would ever try and ban it because people would sh*t a brick.

They're only banning it because it's a completely one-sided issue, an easy win that all the fat consious Califonians can get behind and will earn the govenor brownie points.

It's a popularity scam people. You're allowing the government to get their foot in the door on regulating more things they don't need to bother with so that the policitians can walk around giving themselves pats on the backs instead of paying attention to something that really matters.

If people can't see that they're being dooped then that's their problem.

wow squidteeth, you don't get it do you?

this ban is not because we are "fat-o-phobic, body-image obsessed", this ban is for health!

And Trans Fats have been being studied since the 1990's (if you read that big long ranting post from RylanWhite) and they are not good!

You can not excersize this crap out of your body, it stays in your heart arteries!

And IT WILL NOT AFFECT THE WAY YOUR GREASY FOOD TASTES!!
everything that we know and love will be made with different ingredients that hopefully wont be as bad as using trans fats....

The government is not telling us how to eat, they are making a conscious decision for the health of americans, and that is awesome!

My only concern with this trans fat ban, is that they might find something worse to use in out foods...

"Trans fat is in a lot of things"

seriously? it's not like they're hiding trans fats in apples and lettuce. it's in foods like fries and chips and donuts. if you're eating this crap and mad because you're fat then you're an idiot. you might as well sue mcdonalds because they forced you to eat that crap. this isn't going to end the fat "epidemic." treadmills and salad will.

and the fact that so many people are for it boggles my mind.

once the ban is enacted are you going to continue eating at the places that have been poisoning you for years?

What is California NOT regulating in order to pay attention to this BULLssssshit? I can just imagine the politicians sitting around...

"What should we do today guys? Our jobs? NOOOO. Our polls are down, we should just continue to manipulate people into voting for us by making up rediculous laws that will earn us popularity points with our fat-o-phobic, body-image obsessed populace. "

HOOORAY for DEMOCRACY!

OK...

WWwwwwwhhhhhaaaaat?
So now the government can tell me what i'm allowed to eat?

You guys can all jump for joy if you want to, but i thought this country was about personal freedom and protecting people's rights... not taking them away because we think we need to baby-sit people and their eating habits.

Next month some new study's going to come out about how trans-fats aren't as bad as we were led to believe. Taking care of yourself is a good idea, but this is just nuts.

And did you ever think that maybe those people who kill themselves with fatty foods and no excercise deserve what they do to themselves?

I'm sorry, but if i want to eat fried onion rings and butter burgers once and a while, with extra grease, then i should be allowed to do so. That's my business, not yours, and not the state of California's.

So go ahead and turn a blind eye... Californians.

mine are open and so is my stomach.
They can keep their laws away from my lunch.

UGH! Reading through the sea of ignorant responses here has simply made me sad.

I have decided to get all bitchy and reply to some of what you guys have said with the following points:

#1 " Since research began on trans fats in the 1990s, scientists have linked trans fats to various diseases, including heart attacks and strokes, breast and prostate cancer and possibly type 2 diabetes."

#2 "the legislation will not stop the sale of popular foods like french fries and doughnuts, just change how they are cooked."

#3 One of the things they use Trans-Fats for is a substitute for BUTTER! But why when butter tastes WAY better and it's actually better for you!? The reason is it's CHEAPER to use Trans-Fats. Thats why you're eating them, not because they're in any way better...

It's like saying "OK I know that plain old table sugar tastes good and doesn't have such a high rate of diabetes, BUT High Fructose Corn Syrup is CHEAPER and comes in a liquid form so it's less work to mix into soda, LETS USE IT!
Fuck everyone who consumes it, we'll make %5 more money every year!

PS Hydrogenated Oils = Trans Fats

PPS Fructose does NOT equal High-Fructose-Corn-Syrup. Fructose usually comes in a fine granulated form: "Crystalline fructose and high-fructose corn syrup are often mistakenly confused as the same product. The former is simply pure (100%) fructose. The latter is composed of nearly equal amounts of fructose and glucose. Crystalline fructose is held to offer many unique benefits such as improved product texture, taste and stability. Specifically, when combined with other sweeteners and starches, crystalline fructose is said to boost cake height (in baked goods) and mouth-feel of foods and beverages and to produce a pleasing brown surface color and pleasant aroma when baking.[1] Fructose is often recommended for, and consumed by, people with diabetes mellitus or hyperglycemia, because it does not raise blood glucose or insulin concentrations since it is metabolized without the need of insulin."

PPPS, to the guy who thinks the Federal Government should step in and tell us how to run OUR state: You must be high. Share what you're smokin with the rest of the class please.

I love this great state of California!
We are always trying to make things better for us and the future...

Hooray! Trans fats should be banned. I'm so proud of my state for taking the initiative!

The next step to a healthier California would be to also ban high fructose corn syrup and all those Hydrogenated oils, which are contributing to the large and still growing number of people suffering for diabetes and obesity.

Yup, we're transfat nazis over here. To tell you the truth, I think people should avoid them on their own accord, but hey, whatever.

"Food items sold in their manufacturers' sealed packaging would be exempt."

-- says it all. The real problem here is the corporations with no concern for human welfare who are using things like hydrogenated oils & factory farming methods, etc. because it is cheaper. That is the bottom line. Although, yes, it is true that hydrogenated oils impart a certain consistency to baked goods; but I have had some delicious muffins made with regular old oil -- so it can be done!

On a side note, I read about a study once concerning Hi-fructose corn syrup where some scientists forced fed a bunch of it to some rats & their hearts exploded!

trans fat is bad for you but its still your choice if you want it or even if you do eat trans fat you can always excerise!!!! come on people you can eat healthy and its not like no one is making you eat,Mcdonald's is going to go extcint because of this!

I can't believe you guys are all for this. Its not the governments place to tell us what we can and cannot eat, they are just getting their foot in the door so they can make more outrageous laws.

Typical liberal nanny state BS.

i think this law is reaching a little to far its not like restaurants are putting mercury in the food
heres a simple solution if you don't want to be fat dont eat lots of fatty foods!

Wow, this is great! there is a fast food place called Hi-Life near my highschool where the kids go hang out and buy chili cheese fries and burgers. i even hang out there and i see kids eating these greasy, fatty foods all around me, and even i have a blob of some kind of lard ball called "chilli cheese fries" in front of me and my friends. then we begin to wonder what exactly is in it.............

I can understand banning trans fat in school lunch programs, but all of these new controls the government is trying to implement seem quite disturbing. It is sad when government censorship carries over into meal planning. Next we will be purchasing bootlegged sugar on the black market.

Nor Cal baby. I grew up eating mostly organic food anyway, but its also my personal choice of what I'm putting inside my mouth whether I know its a bit harmful or not.

Just so glad we're raising our kids in California!

One less thing to scrutinize on the grocery aisles...

I worked in the first restaurant in Lincoln, N.H. that went to Non Trans-fat cooking oil in the frialators. And we did it by choice. Not by an act of Government. It cost a little more. But you know what? It was worth it.

What's that I hear? Oh, that was Arteries hardening.

This legislation is a little too much. What next? A ban on carbonated beverages? Deep fried food altogether? Hell, in fifty years, two pats of butter could be a capital offense...

We are more than capable of deciding what we should and should not eat, I don't think we need Gov. Conan babysitting us.

Here is a little history of the bill;

http://www.bantransfat.com/

2nd state. I am pretty sure its illegal in Manhattan at least.

Wow... absolutely rediculous... It's called restraint people. Instead of giving the government more power than it should have over personal choice, you could always use self control and chose where you eat.

The fact of the matter is that obese people deserve to be obese. Can't you see? These people are not the victims, they did it to themselves, and it all could've been avoided with a little self control, it's not like these restaurants are force feeding you.

So good for you California for giving up more personal freedoms, why don't you just make alcohol illegal, b/c it's killing people right? It's not the drunk drivers that are killing people it's the alcohol, oh and don't forget to ban guns, cigarettes, marijuana (people do get killed over mj), driving, all contact sports, movies, music, tv... heck why don't you just ban life period, b/c if you can't live then you mostly certainly can't die. So it must be life's fault you're dying, absolutely no one elses huh?

Yay!

Trans fats and hydrogenated oil are evil things that should be banned.

I wonder what the government is getting out of this one.

its about time.

Good for them!

I think it is great that restaurants in CA are going to be cutting out the trans fats, but the Libertarian in me does not like the way it is being done. I would be much more in favor of requiring restaurants to disclose to their customers which dishes contained, or were cooked using trans fat's, along with some type of warning about the health effects of consuming trans fats. By using this type of warning (such as we now have on cigarettes and alcohol), you empower the consumer by making sure they are able to make an informed decision, without actually taking away the freedom of a business owner to serve what he chooses, and the freedom of the consumer to purchase and eat what they choose.

When you consider that meat and milk from cows naturally contain small quantities of trans fats, is it really that big a stretch to imagine some vegan group pushing for a similar ban on all beef products? Now, there would certainly be way to much opposition to such a ban on the national, and even the state level, but what about smaller communities with high vegan populations?

Do we really want or need our government regulating what we can eat through force of law? Personally, I prefer freedom.

CALIFORNIAAAAAA!! CALIFORNIAAAA!!! HERE WE COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOME!

After the recent report that California uses more fossil fuels than all of China, I feel slightly less inclined to say well done!

The only reason transfats are used is because of their exceptionally long shelf life compared to natural fats. Don't worry, we can still eat french fries, burgers, onion rings, KFC, and other tasty/unhealthy foods. They'll probably even taste better because of it, due to transfats being neither essential nor salubrious.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transfat

Obesity has more to do with the amount of overall calories consumed, not the amount of trans fat consumed.

Trans fats are an easy target for the politicians because unlike the tobacco industry, there is no huge lobby.

"i do what i want"! there is no way the state of cali or any one else is going to tell me what i can and cant eat. this is getting rediculous! Id like to know the motivation behind this crap, its obviously not americas health! cigerette anyone?

I don't mind but does this mean no more onion rings and french fries???

let the people eat what they want to eat its the over weightpeople to decide weather they want to eat fatty foods or good foods. just another way the states are taking away our freedoms.

horrah!a beginning of the end of the obese epidemic!

I find this a wee amusing that California is outlawing trans fats and doing nothing about smoking of tobacco, drinking of alcohol, and the legalizing of marijuana. How do we justify that? Next they will be making it felony to eat red meat.

The government should keep their nose out of my bedroom and my kitchen. OK, make the apparent bad side effects of trans fats publicized and well known as they have done about smoking and drinking. But to make it illegal to eat it is just wrong. It is just another part of our democratic society being reduced by some few individuals who think they have the right to tell the majority how they have to act. Or in this case what they may not eat. This is how socialised societies control their people.

I have not seen them outlaw backyard Bar-B-Q's. That has been linked with cancer. And how about sunbathing? Wow! That would go over big with the California Beach Societies. Enough is enough, this wrong. Tell me I can not eat arsenic. Tell me I can not eat cyanide. Tell me not to drink antifreeze or gasoline. But trans fats? get real.

Maybe we could pass a law requiring FAT people to quit eating. Or maybe we could pass a law requiring skinny people to eat more. Or maybe we could tell the politicians and the government to mind their own business. People have brains of their own, and just as it is my prerogative not to go to the doctor with every little ache and pain or every little scratch, bump and bruise, it is their choice as to eat trans fats, red meat, Ice cream, and candy bars. It is not just to try to legislate ones diet or eating habits.

Wally

i'm assuming when they say "oil, margarine and shortening", that includes olive oil? i thought that olive oil was healthier for you then butter. and how are italian restaurants gonna get with this?

Right on! Cut the fat! The truth it is when people go eat outside they do not have much of a choice. Many times they do not know if what they are eating are healthy. Cutting fat from it it is the way to go!

If people ate with moderation, this wouldn't be a problem. People eat more than what they should so yes... I am for this. I hope we take other measures as well. Our obesity rates are absurd.

I really do not want the government to be my "mother". Trans fat is bad for you, so are cigarettes, sugar and alcohol. I still want the choice!

Do we really need the state telling us what to eat,they have so many problems I wish the public servants would just do what we want them to do. If I want a french fry I'll fu***king eat it.What a waste of time.
Just eat healthy produce like tomatoes and peppers

Is California ready to say goodbye to fries?

Next on the list should be fructose and corn syrup.

good! something needs to be done about all the fatty fatty fat fat.

Right on California. I guess if people can't monitor themselves, the government will have to do it for them.

This is a good start. But I think a ban on soda or something else bad that people overconsume moreso than trans fats would be more effective. Not enough people are aware of what foods contain transfats, and I think something like soda or refined sugar would be a much more "visible" win for the health of the public.

nice... maybe now the plastic surgrey numbers will go down.

I'm a little surprised that the Bush admin. hasn't made the FDA tell California that they can't do that, that the whole country has to have the same standard.

whooohooo for MoCo MD

Way to go!!!

A good step forward, but what about all the foods that already contain trans fats even before they're cooked? That seems like the bigger problem.