Public Health: Does It Count as Paranoia If They're Really After You?

About that slope you're on. Is it slippery?

Yes. I believe I feel it giving a little...

Anthony M. DiLeo, a professor of health care law at Tulane Law School who also teaches at Tulane Medical School, said public health agencies have a well-established right to ban items that are inherently dangerous, like spoiled food or lead in paint.

But the limits of a city's authority when it comes to something like trans fat are less clear, he said.

"You get to something here that is not a bacteria, it is not a virus, it is not an immediate danger ... One meal containing a trans-fat is not dangerous, per se," DiLeo said. "If you have the authority to ban that, you would have to assume you have the authority to ban all sorts of things that, in small amounts, can't be harmful, but in large amounts could be."

So do a little thought experiment. Do you enrich your life with anything that isn't harmful in small amounts, but in large amounts could be?

Thought so.

But what the hell do I know? I'm a paranoid libertarian who kisses the feet of big tobacco.

Anyway, enjoy your... Well, actually, maybe you better not enjoy it. Never know when Nurse Bloomberg is watching.

Read the whole thing.

Comments

[Jonathan Potts]

Well, there is really no reason to eat candy, for example. Or doughnuts, for that matter, regardless of what kind of oil you fry them in. They are, after all, fried dough. Should we only allow baked doughnuts? Is there such a thing?

[John Morris]

All food must be eaten under a doctor's supervision.

[sean mcdaniel]

Or maybe there should be a high minimum charge on all food and consumers must prove that they can actually enjoy those edibles. i think that's a sure bet to happen.

[sean mcdaniel]

Sam,

For all the times I get under your skin (and J. Morris and Amos) consider this one a gift. Have fun with it. There are plenty of laugh lines to hatch here:

www.boston.com/news/local/vermont/articles/2006/09/26/ben__jerrys_to_get_eggs_from_hens_that_dont_live_in_cages/

[sean mcdaniel]

As for the good of the Public Health, rent Thank You for Smoking. There's a lot of good stuff in that movie to spark conversation, such as freedom to kill yourself with cigarettes to the tobacco industry's ability (that means money) to manipulate the facts about the dangers of smoking.