New guidelines that went into effect on Jan. 1 require restaurants using raw or undercooked meat, poultry, fish or eggs to note this on their menus, along with a description of the illnesses that such foods can cause. As a slightly reformed health nut, I wish to concede that I do understand the urge to banish all possibility of illness. I've been cross-examining waiters about raw eggs for years. In the first place, most food poisoning does not originate in restaurants at all but in homes, as a consequence of poor food handling. When the state intervenes to protect us from some perceived harm, it can only do so at the expense of some of our freedom.
Motorcycles are notoriously dangerous.
So is mountain climbing. As a sushi lover, I think the very minuscule risk that raw fish might make me sick is worth taking. I certainly do not want the state deciding that the risk is too great. In an essay in the City Journal, Roger Scruton notes that in England today it is illegal to permit your unaccompanied child to walk down a country lane for fear of kidnapping. Friendship Heights, Md., has outlawed smoking even out of doors.