NYC continues on trans fat mission

In a press release today, NYC will be implementing further its ban on trans fat in cooking products. As of July 1, all artifical trans fat items will be off the menus in NYC. NYC had already begun to ban trans fat in their restaurants last year, but this is the final installment of the series.

I know this was a very hot topic of debate when NYC first suggested this ban at the end of 2006. Everything from economics to personal freedom to "nanny" regulations were discussed. I think this has died down a bit, but I'm not sure since I do not live in NYC nor do I go to fast food restaurants where these trans fats were mostly the culprit. It does look like NYC restaurants have mostly complied with the ban, though maybe that was so they wouldn't get fined?

Anyway, I do know that just about every single product these days touts "no trans fat." Does it make people think about their health more? Do people know what trans fats even are? So I guess I wonder whether this has been truly helpful. Has it really slashed the obesity crisis? Hard to tell with any of this, and there are so many other confounding factors involved. Will this stir up more hackles and regulations? I guess only time will tell.