Regulate Salt!

A few weeks ago in this post I argued that the government has its hands in just about everything. For some people, though, it's simply never enough. Not without a

Department of Sodium Chloride:

An activist group nicknamed the "food police" says it is suing the Food and Drug Administration for refusing to regulate salt. According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), diets too high in salt are responsible for 150,000 premature deaths each year in the United States. The group says "urgent action" is required from federal health authorities to reduce Americans' sodium consumption. According to a press release, the CSPI report "identifies trends in sodium consumption, highlights some of the processed foods and restaurant meals that have the highest sodium content, and makes policy recommendations designed to reduce Americans' sodium intake."

A quick perusal of the CSPI website reveals the following documents in their archives:

Petition to the U.S. Department of Agriculture to Amend the Standards of Identity for Pizza

Playing Chicken: The Human Cost of Inadequate Regulation of the Poultry Industry

Dine at Your Own Risk: The Failure of Local Agencies to Adopt and Enforce National Food Safety Standards for Restaurants

Death on the Half Shell

So who are these "scientists" that want to regulate everything you eat? The Board of Directors consists of nine people. Two are MDs, one a PhD in an unstated field. The remaining members are identified only as "Mr" or "Ms", including Ms. Anne Bancroft. That ain't many "scientists." But that's okay! They just want to help you, whether you want it or not. In fact, CSPI purports to represent YOU. In fact, it's one of their three main goals "to represent the citizen’s interests before regulatory, judicial and legislative bodies on food, alcohol, health, the environment, and other issues."

Thanks anyway, but I'll look out for myself (and eat what I please). I close with some apropos H.L. Mencken:

"The kind of man who wants the government to adopt and enforce his ideas is always the kind of man whose ideas are idiotic."

"It is the fundamental theory of all the more recent American law...that the average citizen is half-witted, and hence not to be trusted to either his own devices or his own thoughts."

Mencken's Law: Whenever A annoys or injures B on the pretense of saving or improving X, A is a scoundrel