Mr. Speaker, I have no doubt about the sincere intentions of the member and her colleagues, which I indeed endorse and support, but the problem I have with this effort is that it will undoubtedly lead to unintended consequences.
Her colleague, the sponsor of the motion, said that the only people who could possibly oppose this would be libertarians who do not want the government telling them what they cannot eat.
I would have to be included in that number, because I believe that when we as politicians, who are not really scientists, start to make scientific findings that we are really not competent to do, then that leads to dangerous places.
The NDP motion says:
That, in the opinion of this House, the federal government should acknowledge processed trans fatty acids are harmful fats, which are significantly more likely to cause heart disease than saturated fats;
Everything I have seen does not support that contention that these fats are significantly more harmful than saturated fats. Let me be clear. If we rush to eliminate trans fats, food producers will replace those trans fats with saturated fats, which was the case 10 or 15 years ago before consumers had their concern about saturated fats.
Here is what the Scientific Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies of the European Food Safety Authority said in September of this year:
--at equivalent dietary levels, the effect of trans fatty acids on heart health may be greater than that of saturated fatty acids. However, the current intakes of trans fatty acids are generally more than 10-fold lower than those of saturated fatty acids whose intakes in many European countries exceed dietary recommendations.
The same European report said:
The available evidence does not provide a definitive answer to the question of whether trans fatty acids have an effect on [cholesterol] different to a mixture of [saturated fatty acid] on a gram-for-gram basis.
Furthermore, the U.S. dietary guidelines advisory committee said:
Saturated fat consumption should be kept as low as possible. Dietary intake of saturated fat is much higher than that of trans fat and cholesterol. Intakes of all three fats should be decreased, however, decreasing intake of saturated fat is most beneficial because it is consumed in greater amounts.
While trans fats on a gram per gram basis have been proven to have a greater effect on heart health, trans fats are the smallest part of the diet, just 2% to 3% of total calories, while saturated fats represent 15% to 20% of the total diet.
I do not want to break caucus confidentiality, but I think I can say that in our caucus debate on this matter, Canada's leading heart surgeon, Senator Dr. William Keon, said that he was very sympathetic to the motion, as am I, but he was concerned as well about the health consequences of replacing these bad trans fats with deadly saturated fats.
Would the member consider amending the first section of the motion? Because frankly, all the science I see contests the assertion that trans fatty acids “are significantly more likely to cause heart disease”. That is being contested by scientific authorities outside Canada.