New York Legislator proposes Salt Ban

[GoPackGo]

http://www.wctv.tv/news/headlines/87331687.html

I know the chances of this passing are remote, but is this guy nuts?

Don't these people have anything better to do with their time than come up with this type of legislation?

When do we get back to "It's the Economy Stupid"?

 

[ebaycj]

The amount of salt they put on the roads is probably more damaging that salt in foods.

 

[Tristicus]

Well, with this health care bill being passed, we need to make people stay healthy.

 

[MovingTarget]

This is just stupid. Salt has been a part of human cooking ever since the first person had the thought "Hey, yum." It has been used to preserve food for nearly as long. This bill, if it becomes law will likely be one of those that is completely ignored by restaurants.

 

[StageLeft]

silly, most sauces have a lot of salt in them. And if this doesn't include those I'll just invent a sauce that basically consists of nothing but salt so that chefs can get around this.

 

[boomerang]

Look at the madness going on in DC and it all comes into context. Our government knows better than we the people do what's better for us and they're going to go to whatever lengths they can to 'help' us.

Actually, when you have full time legislatures, you get this kind of garbage from them. It should be a part time position, meeting once a year, twice tops. Part time with pay and benefits commensurate.

 

[waggy]

You know after they passed the cpsia law it wouldn't surprise me if they pass this. They dont look at the fallout such laws would have

 

[Thump553]

There are fifty state governments in the USA, each has the equivalent of Congress with 100+ members. My tiny state of CT has 36 state senators and 151 representatives, for a total of 187 members.

Out of a national pool of at least 5,000 (probably more like 10,000) people you are going to have quite a few bizarros. Add in the natural politican's quest for publicity, does the introduction of such a hopeless bill actually surprise you?

It does show we have come quite a ways from when salt was treated as money

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

Banning is stupid, but salt and sugar levels in processed and prepared food do need to be limited. They have become a public health hazard. You should be free to shake as much salt or sugar on your food you want yourself, but having the absurdly high levels by default in nearly everything we eat is making too many people sick.

 

[ichy]

Banning is stupid, but salt and sugar levels in processed and prepared food do need to be limited. They have become a public health hazard. You should be free to shake as much salt or sugar on your food you want yourself, but having the absurdly high levels by default in nearly everything we eat is making too many people sick.

Eat less processed food.

 

[DukeN]

This may actually have some legitimacy health wise but the sugar and salt mega billion industries will quickly quash all this stuff. Just in the same way HFCS is out there lobbying lawmakers and consumers (with their TV ads).

 

[Genx87]

http://www.wctv.tv/news/headlines/87331687.html

I know the chances of this passing are remote, but is this guy nuts?

Don't these people have anything better to do with their time than come up with this type of legislation?

When do we get back to "It's the Economy Stupid"?

These nutjobs would love nothing else than to regulate every single activity in our lives if given the opportunity. But somebody like this will plant the seed and in a decade salt will be banned.

 

[boomerang]

These nutjobs would love nothing else than to regulate every single activity in our lives if given the opportunity. But somebody like this will plant the seed and in a decade salt will be banned.

Yup, it will take that long to get the subsidies for the salt producers and processors in place. We'll be using tax dollars to pay companies not to mine and process salt. Most likely to protect union jobs.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Eat less processed food.

This. Restaurant food is not the problem, it the processed, factory produced crap that is drenched in salts and sugars.

Seems this legislator isn't aware that salt is a mandatory part of our diet either. Banning salt is almost as stupid as defining CO2 as a pollutant.

 

[Fear No Evil]

Progressive Incrementalism.. but this guy may be trying to take too big of a step.

 

[totalnoob]

FYI, the salt alternatives taste just as good and they don't raise your blood pressure at all. There is no reason to use salt these days anyway.

 

[ultimatebob]

FYI, the salt alternatives taste just as good and they don't raise your blood pressure at all. There is no reason to use salt these days anyway.

Funny... I think that most of the salt alternatives like Mrs. Dash taste like ass.

Even if they were any good, I still don't see a need to pass a law about something so trivial. New York is in the middle of a deficit crisis right now, and has a crooked governor that they're getting ready to impeach. Time to focus on the big issues, folks.

 

[werepossum]

Progressive Incrementalism.. but this guy may be trying to take too big of a step.

True, but this is inevitable. Once we have federal government in charge of medicine, the next step is to regulate every facet of our lives to remove the things we do that are bad for us. This is only to be expected; if we cannot provide for our own health care and must have Mommy Government do it for us, why should we expect to not be treated as children?

Note that being treated as children will be the best case scenario, the alternative being treated as livestock or other chattel.

 

[boomerang]

FYI, the salt alternatives taste just as good and they don't raise your blood pressure at all. There is no reason to use salt these days anyway.

I'm not familiar with salt alternatives, but are you saying that a man-made salt alternative is preferrable to salt?

 

[MotF Bane]

Banning is stupid, but salt and sugar levels in processed and prepared food do need to be limited. They have become a public health hazard. You should be free to shake as much salt or sugar on your food you want yourself, but having the absurdly high levels by default in nearly everything we eat is making too many people sick.

Bolded is the answer. You should, in fact, are free, to choose not to eat something if there is a large amount of salt. Just because you want the government to protect you from your own stupidity doesn't mean the rest of us need or want such.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

FYI, the salt alternatives taste just as good and they don't raise your blood pressure at all. There is no reason to use salt these days anyway.

There are many good reasons for using salt, particularly if you are athletic. The sodium in salt helps to maintain fluid levels, PH levels, and is a primary electrolyte that permits your nerves and muscles to function. If you do any activity in which you sweat a lot you are going to need the extra salt in your diet to augment salt that naturally occurs in food. Many marathon runners will eat a lot of pretzels prior to a race to load up on salt.

Salt substitutes consist of potassium chloride. Some people don't tolerate it very well and for people with heart conditions and small children, small amounts of KCL can kill rather easily, whereas excess NaCL is readily regulated by the body and disposed of in your urine. You could OD on regular salt but it would take a large amount.

btw, all this hullabaloo about salt has little in the way of factual backup. There has never been a clinical study to determine the actual requirement of daily salt intake in our diets and all recommendations are nothing more than educated guesses.

 

[spidey07]

Salt is absolutely critical in cooking and in taste, without it stuff just doesn't taste nearly as good. It's one of our main tastes for fucks sake. That this is even being introduced is purely insane.

 

[StageLeft]

FYI, the salt alternatives taste just as good and they don't raise your blood pressure at all. There is no reason to use salt these days anyway.

I doubt that and I think 99% of chefs would, too.

 

[Sinsear]

Where is Craig? I'm sure he would be able to explain to all of us that this bill is great for society.

 

[Genx87]

Where is Craig? I'm sure he would be able to explain to all of us that this bill is great for society.

And that we are all idiots of the highest idiocy!