THE FAT LOBBY.(The Talk of the Town)

Publication: The New Yorker

Publication Date: 13-NOV-06

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COPYRIGHT 2006 All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission of The Condé Nast Publications Inc.

The rule, when it comes to battling prohibitions, seems to be the badder the thing, the better the lobby. Of New York City's many bans--against ferrets, small planes, cell phones in schools, smoking in bars, beekeeping, lead paint--the one proposed, this month, against trans fats is neither the most nor the least contentious. This situation presents some difficulty, at least in terms of political mobilization. In the absence of any standing organization pledged to uphold the interests of nacho munchers and shortcake fiends, cholesterol defenders have been forced to proceed ad hoc. So far, they comprise a ragtag band.

The fat lobby's strategic operations are being run by administrators on loan from other groups: Richard Lipsky, of the Neighborhood Retail Alliance (the other N.R.A.), and the New York State Restaurant Association's Chuck Hunt. The corporate guns--McDonald's and the manufacturers of the hydrogenated oils that the plan seeks to eliminate--have been oddly missing from the...

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