All of Massachusetts may soon become a trans fat-free zone.
The state's public health commissioner responded
enthusiastically Wednesday
to a lawmaker's request that his agency impose a statewide ban on
the
artery-clogging fat in all restaurant food.
Last month, California became the first state to outlaw
restaurant use of
trans fat, found commonly in doughnuts, french fries, and chicken
nuggets.
Boston, Brookline, and Cambridge have also passed prohibitions. The
Legislature came close to adopting a ban this summer but ran out of
time.
"It is our responsibility to the residents of the Commonwealth
to remove
this poison from the food supply," state Representative Peter J.
Koutoujian, cochairman of the Legislature's Joint Committee on
Public
Health, wrote to Public Health Commissioner John Auerbach
Wednesday.
Auerbach ardently supports the idea of a ban on trans fat, he
said in an
interview. The evidence is overwhelming that the artificial fat
contributes
to heart disease and other serious health problems, he said.
In his previous job as Boston's public health chief, Auerbach
pushed for
the ban, which enters its first phase Sept. 13: All food-service
establishments must stop frying, grilling, or sauteeing foods with
oils
that contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oil.
In the coming days, Auerbach said, he will look into whether his
agency has
the regulatory authority to impose such a ban and also confer with
the
local health officials who would enforce it. Auerbach said he plans
to
visit New York City, where a ban on trans fat was approved in 2006,
and
learn from its experience.
"I believe that this kind of a measure would be as significant
as the
state's historic ban on smoking in workplaces, in terms of its
affecting
all of the residents of the state and in terms of reducing a
contributing
factor to a deadly disease," Auerbach said.
Koutoujian said he did not know with certainty that the state
Department of
Public Health has the authority to impose the ban by fiat, but the
agency
"has wide-ranging powers, and I believe that this prohibition may
just fit
within those powers."
The Massachusetts House of Representatives passed a statewide
ban on trans
fat in June, but the Senate did not vote on it before the
Legislature
closed its formal session at the end of July.
If he were to wait for legislative action, Koutoujian said, it
might take
another year or two. In that time, "hundreds of people may die
from the
continued ingestion of trans-fat," he said. "The federal
government says
there is no safe level of trans fat."
The bill faced virtually no opposition. Peter G. Christie,
president of the
Massachusetts Restaurant Association, testified to the Legislature
last
year that if public health officials said trans fat needed to be
removed
from food, "the question would only be how and when."
Christie was on vacation Wednesday and did not respond to a
voicemail. He
said last year that a statewide ban would be better than a
patchwork of
local regulations.
Sponsored by Koutoujian, the bill gave restaurants between 12
and 18 months
to remove trans fats from all food. It also applied to cafeterias
and other
food establishments, but not to packaged foods sold in stores.
Many restaurants have already stopped using trans fats. Chains
with
branches in New York City have generally found substitutes for the
harmful
oils. Smaller restaurants are following suit, said Auerbach, but a
statewide ban could accelerate that process.
"I think we're making good progress," he said, "but I also
believe that
banning it statewide will offer added protection for the health of
the
residents of the state. Heart disease is either the number-one or
number-two cause of death in the state, and we think the evidence
is
undeniable that trans fat is a serious and harmful contributor to
heart
disease."
In his letter, Koutoujian cites a Harvard School of Public
Health study
estimating that a statewide ban on trans fats could prevent 1 in 4
heart
attacks and 1,400 deaths per year in Massachusetts.
Trans fat is found most often in shortenings and oils for
frying; it may
also turn up in baked goods. Under federal law, foods sold in
stores must
list their trans fat content.
Trans fat is created when food makers add hydrogen to liquid
vegetable oils
to solidify them. The substance adds to a food's shelf life, but
offers no
health or taste benefits. Widely seen as the type of fat that is
worst for
health, it both increases bad cholesterol and decreases good
cholesterol
and has been linked to heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and stroke.
More information on trans fats and the Boston ban is at
www.bphc.org/bphc/transfat.asp.
c.2008 The Boston Globe