In California, now trans fat is officially illegal. As of 2010, any restaurant using trans fat can be fined up to $1000 for using the deadly chemical. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the ban on trans fats on July 25th, 2008. The ban didn’t go into effect immediately, and the last remaining industry, bakeries, have until January 1, 2011 to remove trans fat from their products. Trans-Fat, which often shows up as a “partially hydrogenated oil” on the ingredients of a product containing it (even if it says 0g there may be trace amounts of the deadly fat). Trans-Fat is considered to be one of the most deadly chemicals still allowed in most of the United States. Simply put, Trans-Fat increases the “bad” (LDL) cholesterol while destroying the “good” (HDL) cholesterol. Trans-fat alone may be significantly responsible for the massive rise in bad cholesterol and heart disease, the leading killer of men and women, in the United States.

The ban is getting an unusual amount of resistance from Republicans, as compared to other times the government bans a poisonous or deadly chemical. Trans fat is heavily used in southern states, leading to massive obesity, heart attacks, and heart disease, among the southern populace of the United States, with trans fat being responsible for making heart disease the leading killer of southern men and women, lowering their population and number of representatives in the House (leading to less Republicans in the House). Trans-fat truly is a poison most everybody should be able to support eliminating, if their constituency can, that is.