California Bans Restaurants From Using Trans Fats

On Friday, California became the first state to ban the use of trans fats in restaurants . Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a legislation that will ban restaurants and other retail food establishments from using oil, margarine, and shortening that contains trans fats.
This legislation would start to take effect on January 1, 2010. Restaurants that violate the ban could face fines between $25 and $1,000 and the only exception would be food that is sold in manufactures' sealed packaging. Both California and Oregon already have laws that ban trans fat from being served in schools.

Trans fats are naturally in meat and dairy products in small amounts. Most trans fats are made when vegetable oil is treated with hydrogen to make baked and fried foods have a longer shelf life. Trans fats are considered bad because they are supposedly linked to coronary heart disease.

Restaurant Smoking Bans Decrease Teen Smoking

A recent study shows that restaurant smoking bans help to persuade teenagers not to become smokers. Teens who lived in towns with strict bans were 40 percent less likely to become regular smokers than teens that lived in communities without bans or that had weak bans. Smoking bans discourage tobacco use and sends out the message that smoking is not healthy. The ban also reduces the amount of smoke that teens are exposed to in public places.

Having a parent or close friend that smokes can be an influence as to whether or not a teenager experiments with cigarettes but strong bans in public places play a bigger role in whether a not the teen will develop a smoking habit. The study also found that the bans had a greater effect on younger teens than older teens.

Rapper Snoop Dogg Allowed Back Into UK

A court overruled the decision not to allow Snoop Dogg a visa to go to the United Kingdom. Since the ban is overturned, he can now travel back to the UK. He was banned from the country after he and five members of his entourage were arrested after an incident at Heathrow airport in 2006. Immigration officials said that his presence in the UK might cause violent crime and last year he was refused a visa for a tour that he was scheduled to do.

UK Challenging Decision to Let Snoop Dogg into Country

Britain is appealing a court decision to let the rapper Snoop Dogg into their country. He was barred from Britain in 2000 after an altercation where he and five other people were arrested on charges of violent disorder and starting a fight at Heathrow Airport. Seven officers were injured in the incident. There was more trouble when some of the people Snoop was with weren’t allowed into British Airways’ first class lounge at the airport.

Snoop appealed the ban and received entry clearance from and asylum and immigration tribunal in January. The Border Agency plans to challenge the ruling at a hearing next week.

China Banning Foreign Cartoons

China is putting a ban on all foreign cartoons that air between 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. to protect their domestic cartoon industry. The State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (SARFT) says that no foreign cartoons or programs that introduce foreign cartoons can be shown during those hours on all domestic cartoon channels and children channels starting on May 1^st. Only domestic cartoons that are approved by SARFT can be aired. Cartoons that are co-produced by both domestic and foreign producers have to get approval to be aired.

In August of 2006, a ban was introduced that kept foreign cartoons from airing between 5 pm. and 8 p.m. After the ban, domestic cartoon programming for China increased by 38 percent. The ban is supposed to help China’s struggling animation studios space to compete and help their domestic cartoon industry.

Elementary School Bans the Game of Tag

It is reported in Colorado Springs, CO that an elementary school banned the game of tag on the playground after some children complained of being harassed and chased against their will. Running games are still allowed on the playground as long as the children don’t chase each other. Only a couple of parents complained about the ban but most children and parents were okay with it.