California became the first state in the nation to prohibit four food additives found in popular cereal, soda, candy and drinks after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a ban on them Saturday.
The California Food Safety Act will ban the manufacture, sale or distribution of brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben and red dye No. 3 — potentially affecting 12,000 products that use those substances, according to the Environmental Working Group.
The legislation was popularly known as the “Skittles ban” because an earlier version also targeted titanium dioxide, used as a coloring agent in candies including Skittles, Starburst and Sour Patch Kids, according to the Environmental Working Group. But the measure, Assembly Bill 418, was amended in September to remove mention of the substance.
Kinda weird this has to be done at the bill level, there isn’t a health agency that monitors these things and bans as necessary?
Any state health agency would fall under the executive branch of government. The power of creating laws is under the legislative branch (like the Senate). Executive agencies have the authority to enforce laws and under Chevron Deference the authority to interpret laws where vague, but not form new laws.
For example, if a bill was passed saying cars can’t be louder than 110 dBs an executive agency could decide the proper way of measuring volume, if not prescribed by law.
I’d think the Legislative would set up a health agency empowered to ban “toxic food additives”, and let the agency determine which ones are toxic. Otherwise, the Legislative branch has to ban every individual thing.
Legislators create committees, and they frequently don’t have many people who care about the issue. Committees are usually… Bipartisan. And not often about effectiveness but about prestige, and lobbying.
I believe the executive branch can suggest new laws, but they would still have to pass through the state’s legislative branch. The suggested law may still need to be formally introduced by a member of the legislative branch, though.
The legislative process of each state is largely derived from the legislative process of the federal government, but there are probably some variations between states.
Those agencies are toothless. Even under Biden, they’re rebuilding those agencies and just crossing their fingers that they aren’t torn apart again in 2024 or 2028.
Ahhh but I don’t have enough cancer yet :( On a serious note, sometimes people shit talk California but they have a massive economy and when they do things like this it has a huge positive benefit for the entire country. Most companies will just reformulate instead of having California specific products so everyone benefits.
To me this is amazing news, I am allergic to Red Dye #3. If I eat something that has it, within seconds my throat closes and I can barely breathe. The worst part is that there is no need to use it. Sweet Tarts for example uses beets to get the red coloring in their candy.
Well that’s terrifying. If you don’t live in California you’ll still have to watch for it after the law takes affect but it should be used a lot less.
How… was the process of identifying that very specific allergy?
I started to to compare ingredient lists from packages of candy and it was the only thing that was on all of them.
Those big allergen patch tests they do, probably
Sadly these did not work to detect it for me.
Those can be kind of hit & miss for food allergies. They prick your back with them, but if your allergic reactions happen in, say, your throat, there’s a good chance you won’t show as allergic. I found the pollen/dander prick test to be a lot more accurate than the food test.
According to the one I took, I’m allergic to both pineapple and mushrooms, which I’m not. Also according to the test, I’m not allergic to any tree nuts at all, which eating those make my lips/mouth/throat swell and itch, in addition to making it hurt/difficult to breathe.
So yeah, ymmv.
Yep! I had problems with one of those red dyes as a kid. Made me go ape shit mode and I was violent every single time I had a candy with it. Then all the other time I was hyperactive but harmless.
Do these cause cancer in the usage and quantity they are consumed in?
Or is this more California “everything causes cancer” BS?
The FDA banned the use of Red Dye #3 in cosmetics over 30 years ago because it causes cancer in animal models. But it was never banned in food. That is either beholden to big business, downright stupid, or both. More info here: https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-additives/red-dye-3-banned-in-cosmetics-but-still-allowed-in-food-a3467381365/
That is either beholden to big business, downright stupid, or both.
If yoyu want an even more blatant example of this, look into the history of stevia and the FDA. Which includes fun stuff like the FDA burning crates of herbal tea because that tea contained stevia, declaring it an unsafe food additive seemingly entirely because NutraSweet wanted them to, and not that much later creating rules that allowed it to be sold to any one in any quantity for any reason as an “herbal dietary supplement”, but only so long as you didn’t mention that it had a flavor. Mentioning that it was sweet tasting transformed it from an herbal dietary supplement that’s basically harmless into a dangerous unsafe food additive.
Thanks!
Do these have strong safety studies backing them or is this just more FDA accepting corporate bribes bs again?
the fact that its
… “toxic” food additives
and not
… “toxic food additives”
makes me think the one who made the title inserted their opinions.
Isn’t this standard procedure for blogs/journalism? I thought the quotes are used to imply a term is not being used because the author thinks it’s true, but rather to indicate that that’s what the topic is centered on.
Not to mention, the discussion around it is if these are actually toxic or not. It would be correct to highlight toxicity as a subject of debate with quotes.
If the food conglomerates are whining then there is truth to the legislation.
For anyone interested in trying to avoid bad stuff, there’s this free app called Yuka I’ve been using for a year or so now where you can scan foods and other products and it gives them a score and a comprehensive breakdown of the additives and overall health of the food with linked sources.
Since the article didn’t list many examples, I looked them up.
brominated vegetable oil- used in sodas, usually citrus flavored ones
potassium bromate- look out for this in breads
propylparaben- used in packaged baked goods, mostly pastries and tortillas
red dye No. 3- aka Erythrosine, its a pink dye, so watch out for that ingredient in any pink foodsand lastly to cover all bases:
titanium dioxide- its a white dye, so watch out for that ingredient in any white foodsBrominated vegetable oil used to be in Mountain dew and it’s the reason it’s been banned in many countries around the world for decades
Well this follows the example of Europe, UK and Canada on dealing with toxic ingredients.
The bromate ingredients are only dangerous if the factory fucked up during production as well. If they’re doing their job correctly, there is no bromate in your food.
It’s sort of like how you don’t have to worry about food poisoning from chicken when it’s cooked through, even though it’s not recommended to risk eating the raw stuff.
No idea about the other two banned ingredients, but the risk seems pretty low for these at least. I wouldn’t bother throwing food away over their presence, personally, but that’s just me.
Edit: too tired
“The bromate ingredients are only dangerous if the factory fucked up during production as well. If they’re doing their job correctly, there is no bromine in your food.”
Idk if that’s true or not so not commenting on that portion. However, “I wouldn’t bother throwing food away over their presence, personally, but that’s just me.” We all have different risk tolerances so that’s fine. What isn’t fine is that the FDA makes a practice of taking corporate bribes, allowing flawed or outright manipulated studies, etc and then suddenly approving foods, additives, drugs, that are known or strongly suspected to be unsafe. For example, Donald Rumsfeld (sound familiar?) was a food company exec who really really wanted aspartame approved but they were having trouble getting through the approval process because it wasn’t easily demonstrable that the product was safe. Rumsfeld gets added to Ronald Reagan’s transition team and suddenly it’s approved. Scary stuff. It’s been approved in other countries so mayyyybe it’s fine but the history of its approval is appalling and simply proves that the FDA isn’t always looking out for the best interest of society at large. So if a state like CA steps in and says “holy shit don’t eat this”, I’m listening.
One source: “Ronald Reagan was sworn in as president January 21, 1981. Rumsfeld, while still CEO at Searle, was part of Reagan’s transition team. This team hand-picked Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes, Jr., to be the new FDA commissioner. Dr. Hayes, a pharmacologist, had no previous experience with food additives before being appointed director of the FDA. On January 21, 1981, the day after Ronald Reagan’s inauguration, Reagan issued an executive order eliminating the FDA commissioners’ authority to take action and Searle re-applied to the FDA for approval to use aspartame in food sweetener. Hayes, Reagan’s new FDA commissioner, appointed a 5-person Scientific Commission to review the board of inquiry’s decision. It soon became clear that the panel would uphold the ban by a 3-2 decision. So Hayes installed a sixth member on the commission, and the vote became deadlocked. He then personally broke the tie in aspartame’s favor.”
What isn’t fine is that the FDA makes a practice of taking corporate bribes, allowing flawed or outright manipulated studies, etc and then suddenly approving foods, additives, drugs, that are known or strongly suspected to be unsafe.
Yeah, corruption isn’t fine. I don’t live on that continent though, so, I’m afraid I can’t help you out much with Donald Rumsfeld. I just like accuracy in my science and proportionate anxiety about risks.
No worries, Donald Rumsfeld is dead now. He did a LOT of damage to the rest of the world before he kicked it though. He was the US Secretary of Defense for George W Bush.
Yes, I remember not being upset by the news of his passing.
This is the right move, I just wish it was done decades ago when we knew these additives were problematic. Like how many lives have been impacted since we knew? I wish karma was a thing as those who knew and carried on as is, have blood on their hands.
Welp, I’m gonna check my pantry now for any of these ingredients.
These aren’t the only toxic additives allowed in food in the US by the way but it’s a good start. On account of Google no longer being a search engine I have attempted to find you a more comprehensive list and given up after looking at the first 3 links since they don’t go anywhere that looks reputable. Maybe someone else knows a good source for us?
Someone above linked Yuka.
You should try AltaVista or Ask Jeeves
I’m a fan of Lycos.
Peeps.
Why did it have to be peeps.
Peeps aren’t for eating. They’re much more enjoyable to light on fire.
Peep S’mores.
Dissapointed that I don’t see Olestra on that list.
Those of us alive in the 80s may never forget the term “anal seepage” associated with it.
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