Washington’s Nannies Go After America’s Trans Fats

Prohibition: Washington is moving to ban trans fats. The obvious question, of course, is what will it ban next? If it can outlaw trans fats, it can outlaw anything. Is taking away choice what we want government to do?

Trans fats, also called partially hydrogenated oils by many, have been in our foods for decades. These artificial fats help extend shelf life and in some cases simply make food taste better. Activists, though, tell us they’re not healthy.

We’re not going to debate the issue. The health concerns of trans fats are not the point.

But this is: Where does government get the raw power to ban trans fats, or any other substance that Americans voluntarily and peacefully ingest?

The list of food items that governments have banned or regulated to save Americans from themselves is growing.

New York, for instance, has targeted salt for termination and banned big sugary soft drinks before a court said no. San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors has voted to run McDonald’s Happy Meals out of town, while raw milk sellers are raided more than terrorist cells.

The Washington Post reported in 2010 the administration was “planning an unprecedented effort to gradually reduce the salt consumed each day by Americans.”

And even before the federal government began its nanny-state campaign against trans fats, efforts to outlaw them were being waged at the state and local levels.

So what’s next? At what point will elected officials and bureaucrats regulate our intake of red meat for our own good? What about cheese? And butter? Should they be limited by public policy due to their fat content?

Then there are the dangers of potato chips, corn-based sweeteners and adult beverages. Surely there are some busybodies in Washington who believe another shot at alcohol prohibition is a fine idea.

In a nation filled with law enforcement agencies, a food police force is neither needed nor welcome. Yet some out there have appointed themselves as our protectors.

At the top of that list would be the Center for Science in the Public Interest. It is a driving force behind the current effort to ban trans fats, which it promoted at one time as a replacement for the animal fats it was campaigning against.

Choice? To these people it’s an archaic notion.

In their minds, and in the minds of many elected officials and bureaucrats, the only choice is that which government makes for its subjects. That’s a frightening power and not one government should have.