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Toxics In Our Kids’ Foods: Where Is The FDA?
Expert Opinion
Monday, April 11, 2011
Laurie David & Robyn O'Brien, Huffingtonpost.com:
Last week, 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, 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 to breakfast cereal to practically every piece of candy your child has ever put in his or her mouth. Links are being found to hyperactivity in kids (ADHD), cancer and serious food allergies.
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 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.
Find Out More:
- All Things Dye In The News
- Over 1,000 Moms Are Inventing Snacks – Join The Fun!
- Avoiding Canned & Plastic-Packaged Foods Significantly Reduces BPA Levels
P.S. If you're concerned about risky artificial food dyes, please sign our petition telling Kraft to stop using them! They have in other countries due to consumer pressure, now it's our turn to make them clean up their colors.
Laurie David is an environmentalist, producer and the author of The Family Dinner: Great Ways to Connect with Your Kids, One Meal at a Time. Robyn O'Brien is the founder of AllergyKidsFoundation.org and the author of The Unhealthy Truth: How Our Food Is Making Us Sick - And What We Can Do About It.
The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and not necessarily those of
Healthy Child Healthy World.
Posted by nikki on 04/29/2011 at 10:55 AM
It is ridiculous that our government allows these corporations.. a.k.a. the governments buddy’s or should I say employer.. to feed us dead food that have absolutely NO health benefits!!! I realize that we are not force fed these foods and I do try to buy whole foods.. like veggies and fruits, but sometimes when you have kids it would be nice to have convenience foods that are a little more healthy!!
Posted by Suspicious on 04/28/2011 at 06:41 PM
I am not surprised at all! I do not trust any companies at all, what ever the label says could be a lie. Organic? There is no organic food anymore, just less chemicals than before. Laughable!
I cook, and my kid takes lunch and snack to school every day! No soda, limited candy, I bake the cookies, no nuggets, .... I love Jamie Oliver!
Dont buy it! That is the secret and educate your kid, so they do not even ask you to get the staff for them!
Posted by Marie on 04/26/2011 at 08:10 AM
I appreciate this post, but I have a question about other ingredients. The Nutrigrain bars in the US are made with Propylene Glycol and a myriad of other horrible ingredients that they call food. Do they still use Propylene glycol, etc in the bars overseas?
Posted by Earth Becomes Me on 04/18/2011 at 05:07 PM
This is infuriating! American companies will clean up their products for the foreign consumers who demand it - but continue to put crap in our food! Apparently there is ZERO conscience in these businesses.
On the other hand, this makes it obvious that consumers can have power when they tell companies what they want from their products. We just have to find an effective way to educate the public, and empower them to demand change!
Posted by Ely on 04/16/2011 at 08:43 AM
I wrote a note to the Kraft company a year ago about putting dyes in the American version of Macaroni and Cheese. They wrote me back saying that the dye is justified by the FDA. I can’t believe they will take that stance considering they have removed the dyes from the European (and other)versions for reasons that they KNOW are harmful to people and especially children. American Moms Unite!!! Use your buying power to send a message to these companies!
Posted by Mama in the Kitchen, and she ain't cookin'! on 04/15/2011 at 06:27 PM
Thank you for posting this!!! As a family, we have opted for less and less processed foods because I cannot trust mystery ingredients anymore. Our solution: a highly raw diet full of raw green smoothies, salads, fruits, sprouts and lettuce wraps. Food at it’s most natural state. At 2 my son had a CT scan because the doctors thought he had a growth in his body. Since then, I have been making sure we eat for HEALTH. The same foods that can cure cancer is the same foods that can prevent it: UNPROCESSED foods. I cannot imagine buying Nutri-Grain…. From the US or UK. As far as I’m concerned, as a Mama in my kitchen, I have the power to choose health… and processed foods is not the way I want to nourish my family.
Posted by Dacie Doucette on 04/15/2011 at 09:40 AM
It’s amazing how much companies get away with putting into the products that we consume. The more I become aware, the more astounded I am. But I really think the change is up to us, deciding to demand more out of companies. Its time to sit up and start noticing what’s going into the things we buy. Thanks for tackling the issue!
Posted by Nina on 04/13/2011 at 05:29 AM
if they could make it healthy for UK why they can`t do the same here so our kids will have a chance for healthy life with healthy snacks….????
Posted by aviva (omyc.wordpress.com on 04/11/2011 at 08:41 AM
This is great information but it would be very helpful to have contact information for the offending companies. If they’re there, I can’t find ‘em.
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Posted by Nissan Mechanic Atlanta on 08/05/2011 at 09:23 AM
all these things are amazing to me.
I’ve had friends from abroad who complain about the quality of the food in the US. It seems as though the UK takes more initiative to make sure what is being produced will keep their country healthy.
No wonder obesity rates are so ridiculous here.