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Uh-oh, Oreos
The Trans Fats Debate
By Kelly Burgess
"It's not as simple as just banning trans fats from our children's diets," says Enig. "Canadian researchers found that infants consume fatty acids through their mother's milk. They followed this group of children up to 14 months and found that the higher the level of trans fats in the mother's diet, the less visual acuity the children had."
As kids get older, it may be even more difficult to try to keep trans fats out of their diet. Kids love processed foods such as frozen pizzas but these products are extremely high in trans fats. Many of the quick "grab and go" foods are also very unhealthy.
| "The factual and legal basis for the lawsuit when it was filed was that the American people did not know about trans fat. At best, perhaps 10 to 15 percent knew. The American people were being kept in the dark by the food manufacturers. The word 'trans fat' is not even on food labels. That was then. This is now. "After three days of incredible national publicity, everyone in America knows about trans fats, and if anybody doesn't, I don't know where on earth they've been hiding. The factual and legal basis for the lawsuit has totally disappeared. I certainly could not tell a court now that nobody knows about trans fat." |
His decision was based on literally thousands upon thousands of e-mails his Web site received, in addition to the national publicity. What he doesn't address is the overwhelmingly negative publicity the Oreo lawsuit generated. In one of perhaps the most preposterous responses, Rush Limbaugh wrote, "Our life expectancy is getting so high that demographers are worried we're living too long because we're all putting too much pressure on the precious social welfare systems."