Chicago's most powerful alderman on Tuesday narrowed his war against artery-blocking cooking oils to a single front: fast-food giants and major restaurant chains.
On the eve of a City Council hearing on his headline-grabbing ordinance, Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th) signed off on a watered-down version that would limit trans fats only at establishments owned by companies with at least $20 million in annual gross sales.
Trans fats have been linked to heart disease and up to 50,000 premature U.S. deaths each year.
The Illinois Restaurant Association had complained that the original version would have been a costly burden for "Mom and Pop and ethnic" establishments.
"They use a limited amount of partially hydrogenated cooking oil. They cannot afford the more expensive oil," restaurant association President Colleen McShane told the Chicago Sun-Times on the day the all-inclusive trans-fat ban was introduced.
I posted about this issue previously here.
You know what this legislation is going to do? It's going to make food more expensive at chain restaurants like McDonalds, Olive Garden and Applebee's more expensive. These are the places where poor to middle class Americans generally eat out.
What it won't do is make food more expensive at smaller, privately owned (and generally upscale) restaurants where more wealthy Americans eat.
Why does Alderman Burke trying to make food more expensive for poor people?
Ok, sarcasm aside, why can't this guy just let his constituents eat what they want to eat and be responsible for their own health?