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« Toxic trade mission: US pitched China on toxic medical products | Main | New old news: 2004 Industry Tests Found 'Brockovich' Chemical Nationwide »
Toxins in Our Kids' Foods: Where is the FDA?
Guest Post by Laurie David and Robyn O'Brien, EWG Board Member
Yesterday, in the face of a just- released report by the National Cancer Institute that showed a 9.4% increase in childhood cancer between 1992 and 2007(1), the FDA let moms and dads all across America, down. Instead of making the long overdue move to do something serious about getting rid of toxic food dyes so ubiquitous in our food supply, they instead fell back on those two simple words so often used to stall, delay and deny..."more research."
In kitchens across this country, eight dyes, currently being used by manufacturers can be found in everything from packaged macaroni and cheese, breakfast cereal to practically every piece of candy your child has ever put in its mouth. Links are being found to hyperactivity in kids (ADHD), cancer and serious food allergies. (2)
But here is the truly crazy thing. Kraft, Coca Cola and Wal-Mart have already removed these artificial food colors and dyes from the same products that they distribute in other countries. They did it in response to consumer demand and an extraordinary study called the Southampton Study.
The Southampton Study (3) was unusual in that it tested children on a combination of two ingredients: tartrazine (yellow #5) and sodium benzoate. The study's designers knew that a child very rarely has occasion to ingest just a synthetic color or just a preservative; rather, a child who is gobbling up multicolored candies is probably taking in several colors and at least one preservative.
What's amazing is that in the U.K., the federal food safety agency actually funded the Southampton Study that led to even U.S. corporations eliminating synthetic colors and sodium benzoate from their U.K. products.
And in response, a whole host of companies, including the U.K. branches of Wal-Mart, Kraft, Coca Cola and the Mars candy company (who make M&Ms), have voluntarily removed artificial colors, the preservative sodium benzoate, and even aspartame from their products. Particularly those marketed to kids. Take a close look at the ingredient list for the product below.
Our American companies had removed these harmful ingredients from their products overseas--but not here!
Kraft, Coca Cola and Wal-mart are living proof that it is possible for giant corporations to make and sell kid-friendly, family-friendly, and healthy processed food without necessarily exposing them to a chemical cocktail that might also give them allergic reactions, brain tumors, or leukemia, or the symptoms of ADHD, as the Center for Science in the Public Interest recently highlighted in their report "Rainbow of Risks".
No need to go through all the numbers for increased health problems here. You've heard them all and it isn't pretty. For goodness sake, no more research necessary. Lets stop poisoning our own kids. Lets start assuming chemicals are dangerous until proven safe, not the other way around.
Is it too much to ask the FDA and the processed food companies for the same value to be placed on the lives of the American kids in their cost-benefit analyses that has been placed on the lives of kids in the UK?
Moms, we can create that same change here. And with 51 million moms waking up to the dangers that toxins present to the health of our kids, our numbers are equivalent to the entire population of Spain. Time to get down to business, level the playing field for our kids, and send a message to these companies. Vote with your pocketbook today, this weekend, next month as you grocery shop for your family. Because while the American children only represent 30% of our population, they are 100% of our future. So while the FDA may not value their lives accordingly, we can.
Notes:
1. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, March 31, 2011 DOI: 10.1093/jnci/djr141
2. Rainbow of Risks, http://www.cspinet.org/new/201006291.html
3. Southampton Study http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/additivesbehaviourfinrep.pdf
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Great article! Thank you for posting this. As a german citizen living in the US I'm very concerned about these chemicals and am angry and exhausted about having to check every single item in the store instead of the government protecting all of us from toxins in food! It's time for them to do their jobs! Keep up the good work.
Its about time that we tell the companies what we want, what our children want to eat and not the other way around. We are the consumers. We are the ones these companies are making a profit from. We can stop them from feeding us toxins.
Well, now we have additional evidence that food dyes cause cancer.
Right?
Nope.
The Southampton Study, as described in the news release linked above, was looking for, and identified, a link between dyes and hyperactivity. We didn't learn that, because the authors of this article, after devoting several paragraphs to the study, never told us what the results were.
We should also note that "children’s families were asked to put them on a diet free from the additives used in the study." We don't know how successful this effort was, or even whether any attempt was made to find out. Failure to follow those study instructions could easily skew the results.
It is really infuriating that these companies only remove the synthetic colours when they are shamed into doing so. They can't claim ignorance any longer and I, for one, intend to boycott their products. The FDA appears to be a typical bureaucratic organisation, rarely accomplishing any thing of value for public health, as they seem to be influenced by the corporations they are required to oversee.
If these conglomerates can produce products without harmful and toxic dyes and additives in other countries it is just inexcusable to feed U.S. citizens known harmful substances. It makes perfect sense to err on the side of caution even with out fool-proof evidence if there is an alternative available. Corporations who engage in this show an extreme lack of corporate responsibility and the FDA's stance defies all reason unless they are in bed with these companies.
In my opinion it is the government's fault that there is so much cancer, etc, and it is growing every year. They are allowing the foods we and our children to eat to be poisioned by chemicals, dyes,etc and even our sunscreens that we put on are full of chemicals and cause problems with hormones....and that is what we are paying such high taxes for....something definately wrong with the world today....but I guess having sick people make them all rich. I am sure there is a cure for cancer and I am very angry right now because my sister was just diagonsed with breast cancer last week and now will be plugged with toxic chemo instead of using other medicinal remedies like hemp oil. I have been reading alot about it, but there is no money for the government, therefore they do not want to talk about it.....it upsets me so bad and like I said I am so angry right now so I should say no more or I may get myself in trouble!