I was reminded today of just how quiet Buffalo's government has become in the last couple years. And I mean that in the best sense. Compared to the circus we had a few years ago, our elected representatives today are downright professional. I suppose that not having the ability to spend all the money they can in the shortest possible time has had a lot to do with that. But nonetheless, I get the feeling -- from the Mayor's office on down - that City Hall is on my side now and working hard to help this town turn around.
But then along comes our newest Common Council member, Demone Smith, and all the bad old memories came flooding back.
Buffalo restaurants would be banned from using trans fats under a law that will be proposed this week by the city's newest Common Council member.
Eating establishments that use artificial fats are harming people's health, Demone A. Smith of the Masten District said Tuesday as lawmakers met with a group that is lobbying for the ban.
"It's like eating plastic," Smith said of trans fats, which are partially hydrogenated fats.
I don't know if you heard his interview on WBEN this morning or Sandy Beach's show on the topic in the afternoon, but if you did you'll know that the "eating plastic" statement was the most comprehensible thing the guy said. I mean, have you ever heard George Holt speak? Well, imagine that without the eloquence and you've heard Demone Smith.
Of course, eloquence is one thing, we're not all excellent speakers. But the guy sounded as if he had done no research whatsoever into his pet project. He doesn't know how it would be enforced (the county enforces health laws,) he doesn't know when it would take effect, and he doesn't even know how many restaurants would be affected.
All he appears to "know" is that they've done it in New York City and evidently if it's good enough for them, etc., etc..
Now, many of us remember when saccharine was illegal -- caused cancer you know. Except then it didn't and we use it freely today. For years, coffee was alleged to shorten your life, but now some studies show that it may prolong it. We avoided eggs for a decade but now have realized that they don't actually kill us and recent research indicates that high-fat diets (a la Atkins) aren't really bad for you at all.
Organic food is all the rage these days, but there is that E. coli problem from all that manure and contrary to previous teachings, the demon "red, red wine" may end up helping our hearts. Being people (as we are) with the capacity to imagine the worst, we are also sometimes prone to adopting premature measures to stop it.
The jury's still out on trans-fats but absent anything more than intuition and a few anecdotes, should we really be banning it? Of course not, and new members of the city government looking to make a name for themselves should probably just stick to the tried and true: make sure the streets get plowed, the police are on patrol and the Common Council is seen but not heard.
Meanwhile the rest of us can continue to have our doughnut (or two) for breakfast and a fish fry for dinner. We might live longer if we ate raw spinach and free-range eggs, but who really knows? Trust me, Demone, if your constituents are fat and happy you'll have a much better chance for re-election than you will by legislating how we live our lives.
Comments