Poll Results published in ESC Congress Newspaper, 01 September 2007.
“Yes. I think that people who undertake risky activities - like eating trans-fats or smoking - should be forced to pay additional health insurance premiums. It’s totally unfair that the remainder of the population should have to pay for the treatment of such foolish people. Taxes could provide an additional incentive to improve diet. But everyone needs to be educated about the dangers, so it’s important that information about trans fats should be included as part of the school curriculum.”
“No. Some adults want to eat this kind of food and, provided they’re informed of the risks, they have the right to make their own choices. It’s not up to society to protect them. But everyone needs to recognise these foods as dangerous. One possibility would be to print government health warnings on the wrappers of fast food. Another approach - to prevent the globalisation of the fast food industry - might be to introduce restrictions on the number of restaurants in a particular area which are allowed to serve food containing trans-fat".
“Yes. Governments have a duty to ban trans-fats to protect young people who are often unable or unwilling to understand our health educational messages. It’s particularly hard to reach young people who consider eating fast food and smoking as cool. We need to ensure that there are ways of producing popular foods that don’t contain these harmful substances. We’ve just banned smoking in public places in Germany and I see banning trans-fats as just one step further in the right direction.”
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“No. I think everyone should take responsibility for their own cardiovascular health. There is, however, a need for adequate education and information to allow people to understand the issues and make up their own minds. Eating trans-fats represents a different problem from smoking, where smokers have the potential to harm other people. So in the case of smoking, I feel there are real reasons for governments to intervene to protect vulnerable people. But trans-fats are only one small part of the CVD risk factor puzzle.”
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