Nanny State

Given that last week on "City Life" State Rep Kevin Murphy (Dem / 18th Middlesex) panned the Nanny State, I am sure he will be against this idea out of New York City. Law Professor calls it "Public Policy That Makes Us All Guinea Pigs."

This is about New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposing that industry take it upon itself to cut in half the salt content of its products. The original article, by the always interesting Mr John Tierney of The New York Times, talks about Mayor Bloomberg's plan and compares it to real science.

Suppose you wanted to test the effects of halving the amount of salt in people’s diets. If you were an academic researcher, you’d have to persuade your institutional review board that you had considered the risks and obtained informed consent from the participants.

You might, for instance, take note of a recent clinical trial in which heart patients put on a restricted-sodium diet fared worse than those on a normal diet. In light of new research suggesting that eating salt improves mood and combats depression, you might be alert for psychological effects of the new diet. You might worry that people would react to less-salty food by eating more of it, a trend you could monitor by comparing them with a control group.

But if you are the mayor of New York, no such constraints apply. You can simply announce, as Michael Bloomberg did, that the city is starting a “nationwide initiative” to pressure the food industry and restaurant chains to cut salt intake by half over the next decade. Why bother with consent forms when you can automatically enroll everyone in the experiment?

The Mayor of NYC wants me to join him in this experiment. My question is, will His Honor be in the courtroom along with the President and CEO of Swanson Foods, when this all goes wrong? I am thinking "Not likely."

Thank heavens for Rep Kevin Murphy. He will be keeping us safe.

Regards  —  Cliff