…to reduce “the amount of salt in packaged and restaurant food by 25 percent over the next five years” was announced today.
This latest example of NYC’s health activism greeted New Yorkers this morning on the front page of the NYT.
I particularly liked this telling admission:
The city’s campaign against salt resembles its push to cut trans fat from restaurant foods, which began with a call for voluntary compliance. When that did not work, the city passed a law to force restaurants to eliminate trans fat.
Emphasis added.
So. Enforcement works, mmh?
With the salt campaign, however, they will focus on public pressure:
Companies that complied would benefit from good publicity.
Education, mmh?
But back to bed bugs.
How does this make you feel?
I could tell you how this bright piece of news makes me feel.
But then you’d need to wash out your eyes with soap.
That would sting I wager.
These pages may be of related interest:
- Heartfelt thanks to all of you supporting our efforts for a New York City bed bug task force
- Giving bed bugs their due
- Reminder: our CitizenSpeak campaign
- The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is resisting pressure to act in the city’s bed bug resurgence
- The NYC Health Department regresses
At 63 years old I can’t seem to remember a time when NYC, for the last 40 years, hasn’t been on the verge of some crisis or another. Whether it has been financial, crime, union issues with safety forces or even garbage collection (which really is the business of city officials) they seem bent on spending entirely too much time on things that aren’t any of their business. You would think they have enough to worry about….but nooooooo….now they have to worry about what we are all eating. I feel so much healthier now….don’t you?
If people don’t want salt or trans-fat in their food they can tell the wait person. Or they could go to a restaurant that will cater to them. Or…..shock of shock…..make their meals themselves and eat at home. I have no objection to anyone living this way if they choose. What I resent is that they insist on forcing me to live the way they choose also.
This is another blatant example of activists having entirely too much to say about everyone else’s business; and officials who don’t have the guts to tell them to just be quiet.
Then again….perhaps I am being too judgmental and hasty in my views. I did have lunch today at one of Cleveland’s fine four star restaurants (we are one of the restaurant capitals of the United States by the way) and one of the regulars told me that salads really upset his colon. WOW….I just had to know that ….but after reading about NYC’s anti-salt crusade and retelling this account of today’s lunch conversation I just had an epiphany….that’s it…an epiphany ….. I WANT A BAN. No more of those darned rotten unhealthy green leafy vegetables are to be served at any restaurant my friend eats at. And since he eats out a lot I don’t want him to forget and eat any of this terrible stuff accidently; so green leafy vegetables have to be banned from ALL restaurants.
How about whole wheat bread which has gluten in it. My secretary is gluten intolerant…..I want whole wheat bread banned too, and not only from restaurants….no more “natural” grain products are to be sold anywhere…..just in case she forgets and eats some by accident.
WOW! I feel so empowered…..I think I will go next door and straighten my neighbor out too. I don’t know what he is doing…but I am sure that I can find something I don’t like and want to change, even if it is just the TV channel. I sure he will be thrilled….and grateful.
It is the city itself — the city government — embarking on these crusades. The budget for this was not disclosed. Is it entirely to be funded by grants? In a time of plenty, whatever. But now? And then cry poverty about any suggestion that they (the city) do something about bed bugs? That was my point. But, you know, there is also the issue of how feasible this is. And the benefits. But maybe they’ll get some kind of award for innovation!
Meanwhile, if it is not already abundantly clear, if you have bed bugs in NYC, you are on your own. Not a health problem. Nobody’s problem but your own.
I really do sound like I’m whining all the time, don’t I? ;) I need to retire from all this b.s.
Btw, someone wrote a comment on the Times article that the underlying science is dubious.
Haha, shoot me before I start googling this nonsense.
That is the problem with all of this horsepucky from the activists; the “science” is always dubious. The next thing we need to ask these officials is; how much money have you put into research to understand the impact of salt, trans-fat (or whatever the latest philosophical flavor of the day is) on the human body? And the answered is always “0″. So that means they are taking the word of activists and junk scientists to make their decisions. Chicago banned foie gras. Why? Because it offended animal rights sensitivities.
Make no mistake about it. The horsepucky surrounding pesticides, vaccinations, pharmaceuticals, industrial products and everything else these people pontificate about is exactly the same. To paraphrase a quote from Viv Forbes, “The public has been misled by an unholy alliance of scaremongers, funds-seeking academics, sensation-seeking media, vote-seeking politicians and profit-seeking vested interests.” But who are presented as the “heros’ hear? Not the doers, but the un-doers.
We have lost our minds!
Renee,
Here is the take on this from the American Council on Science and Health.
“Approximately 2.4 million deaths occur every year in the United States” total, says Dr. Ross. “About 800,000 are from heart disease and stroke. How can the DOH eliminate 800,000 deaths every year just by reducing salt intake? That’s at least an order of magnitude higher than the most optimistic medical estimate about the effects of reduced sodium intake.”
“This happens all the time,” says Dr. Whelan. “The City DOH comes up with some regulation like trans-fats or calorie counts, then they make these proclamations of the benefits to be gained by them. Where they get these numbers, I have no idea. They’re basically declaring salt one of the leading causes of death in the country, and that’s absolutely false. I’m not downplaying the fact that hypertension is one of the top three risk factors for premature death in the U.S., but that is why we advocate for improved blood pressure screening as a way to deal with this serious problem instead of being fixated on salt as the cause.”
Junk science is the most ardent companion of the activists movements.
Rich
I’ll have to read more about it, just what I didn’t want to do.
I’ll have to visit Cleveland one day, Rich.
I think that the point is that they will locate the funds when they are convinced that bed bugs are a public problem.
For now there heads are still in the sand…
I think making bed bugs infestations a reportable event for PMPs and establishing a secure database… might help raise public awareness about the actual prevalence of the problem.
Hi Doug,
True — but it’s a bit of a circular problem, isn’t it?, until bed bugs are unequivocally regarded as public health pests, there will not be any money for tracking, nor a rationale for making bed bugs a reportable pest, etc.
The stigma is a significant obstacle for the public to become engaged so I’ve learned not to expect anything on that front. This is not like other problems…