The World Health Organization on Monday called on governments to take action to eliminate trans fats from the food supply as part of the global battle against cardiovascular disease. "Eliminating trans fats is key to protecting health and saving lives," said the WHO, which estimates that trans fats, which are present in hardened vegetable fats, including margarine and ghee, lead to more than 500,000 deaths a year. WHO is urging governments to use six actions to remove trans fats from the food supply. These include reviewing dietary sources of industrially-produced trans fats, promoting their replacement with healthier fats and oils, legislating for full elimination, assessing and monitoring trans fat content in the food supply, creating awareness of the negative health impact among policy makers, producers, suppliers and the public and enforcing regulations and compliance. WHO noted that places that have already taken these actions, including Denmark and New York City, have already seen dramatic declines in cardiovascular disease deaths.