WASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) -- The secretary of health and human services praised the announcement by Pizza Hut and KFC that they would ban smoking in all of their restaurants nationally, saying it would help with efforts to reduce both smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke.

"We`ve known for decades that smoking is bad for your health and is the leading preventable cause of death and disease. What starts as a single puff can become a death sentence for millions of Americans," Leavitt said.

"KFC and Pizza Hut are concerned about our customers` and employees` health regarding the dangers of second-hand smoke," KFC President Gregg Dedrick and Pizza Hut President Peter Hearl said in a joint statement.

The ban applies only to company-owned restaurants in the United States...

Leavitt noted that the ban`s impact on reducing exposure to secondhand smoke also would be important.

"Second-hand smoke is also harmful and hazardous to the health of the general public and is particularly dangerous to children," he said. "If we are going to be serious about improving health and preventing disease, we must continue to drive down tobacco use and exposure to second-hand smoke in this country. Efforts such as these are vital to our success."

Dumb bastards

I wonder how these companies feel about......HEART DISEASE!!!

I'm too lazy today, but if someone feels like writing KFC and Pizza Hut and tell them that you agree with them on their health vision and therefore you won't be eating their artery clogging foods anymore. LOL

BTW, I wonder if they'll appreciate it when the secretary of HHS labels their foods as killers:

"Fried chicken and pizza are harmful and hazardous to the health of the general public and is particularly dangerous to children. If we are going to be serious about improving health and preventing disease, we must continue to drive down fried chicken and pizza eating."

I'd say that's not far-fetched.

Not that far off indeed, Squeezer. This was in the New York Times on Thursday:

August 11, 2005
Hold That Fat, New York Asks Its Restaurants
By MARC SANTORA
The New York City health department urged all city restaurants yesterday to stop serving food containing trans fats, chemically modified ingredients that health officials say significantly increase the risk of heart disease and should not be part of any healthy diet.

The request, the first of its kind by any large American city, is the latest salvo in the battle against trans fats, components of partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, which three decades ago were promoted as a healthy alternative to saturated fats like butter.
<snip>

"To help combat heart disease, the No. 1 killer in New York City, we are asking restaurants to voluntarily make an oil change and remove artificial trans fat from their kitchens," said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the city's health commissioner, who compared trans fats to asbestos and lead as public health threats. "We are also urging food suppliers to provide products that are trans-fat free."

It is far from clear how many restaurants will heed the call of Dr. Frieden, one of the city's most activist public health commissioners in a generation.

A survey by the department's food inspectors found that from 30 to 60 percent of the city's 20,000 restaurants use partially hydrogenated oil in food preparation, meaning that thousands of cooks and chefs might need to change their cooking and purchasing habits to meet the request"


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And if they don't do this voluntarily....? Well, the Nazi minister of health says that in a year he'll see how well the "voluntary" campaign has gone to see what "further" steps might be necessary. Aw, why doesn't he just go for it and have his goons pistol whip those cooks and chefs who don't immediately comply? I mean, if it could save just one life....

quote:

Originally posted by Wanda Hamilton:
Aw, why doesn't he just go for it and have his goons pistol whip those cooks and chefs who don't immediately comply? I mean, if it could save just one life....

Pistol whipping them isn't good enough for me. I say they get the same punishment as the antis say tobacco execs should get: A prison sentence for murder. Both are killing us with their products! LOL