This Day in San Francisco Nanny-Statism: July 20, 2011

It's a busy week for that segment of San Francisco's population that pursues bans of things like Happy Meals and goldfish. First up, we reported last week that the Board of Supervisors wasn't giving up its ridiculous crusade against cell phone radiation. Despite the fact that no studies have shown a link between phones and cancer risk, the city has approved a new and onerous set of requirements for retailers: now, phone merchants must display educational placards in their stores and hand out a tip sheet describing ways of reducing radiation exposure with every purchase. A final vote on the plan is due next week, after which it will go to Mayor Ed Lee's desk.

Meanwhile, opponents of parental discretion and lovers of Goebbels-esque anti-Semitic propaganda have gotten a new setback in their effort to ban circumcision in the city. According to the Sacramento Bee, the California Assembly has the ban in its sights: Los Angeles Assemblyman Mike Gatto and San Francisco Assemblywoman Fiona Ma are pushing AB 768, a so-called urgency measure to prohibit cities from enacting bans on medical procedures. You might recall the lawsuit launched by a coalition of Jewish and Muslim groups, which charged that San Francisco was prohibited from circumventing state law to regulate medical care; you might also recall the opinion from the city's attorney, who concluded that the measure would have to exclude medical professionals, and would be "unconstitutional if narrowly applied to religious practices." The new bill would, essentially, affirm these arguments in state law.