Lawmaker calls on public health regulators to ban trans fat

By Carey Goldberg, Globe staff

All of Massachusetts may soon become a trans fat-free zone.

State Representative Peter Koutoujian, co-chairman of the Legislature's Committee on Public Health, called on state health regulators today to impose a statewide ban on the artery-clogging fat in all restaurant food without waiting for lawmakers' approval.

"It is our responsibility to the residents of the Commonwealth to remove this poison from the food supply," Koutoujian wrote to public health commissioner John Auerbach. Last month, California became the first state to impose a ban.

Auerbach said in an interview today that he enthusiastically supports the idea of a trans fat ban, given convincing findings that the artificial fat contributes to heart disease and other health problems.

The health commissioner said he will look into whether his agency has the regulatory authority to impose such a ban and confer with the local health officials who would enforce it.

"I believe that this kind of a measure would be as significant as the state’s historic ban on smoking in workplaces in terms of its affecting all of the residents of the state," Auerbach said, "and in terms of reducing a contributing factor to a deadly disease."