Throughout the USA, for a long time to ban synthetic paints in foods, a push, renewed acceleration gaining acceleration, the critics of the paints insist when it is not a matter of this, but when.
The states such as Western Virginia, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. They have stated that the US, which is ruled by a healthy way, as a driving force, with concerns that children can contribute to behavior problems in children with worries between parents and some scientists – says that the Food and Pharmaceutical Administration is a connection. watch but did not determine.
In the first three months of the year, 20 states, including Oklahoma, Western Virginia and New York, introduced approximately 40 bills aimed at cracking artificial paints And according to the Environmental Working Group of a food safety advocacy group, other food additives.
Brandon Cawood, the defender of eliminating food dyes that created “Paint: Documentary: Documentary: Bandon Cawood, a film quoted by Western Virginia deputies, said,” We are really encouraging, “he said. “Oklahoma, Utah, Tennessee’nin there are invoices on the table. Florida, New York, Texas, Arizona. All these places emerge all over these places.”
The FDA approved 36 color additives, including nine synthetic paint used in foods and beverages. Among them, there was red number 3, approved for use in foods in 1907, but the agency banned it for concerns about possible cancer risks in January.
Experts say that they are widely used in products marketed to children, including sugar, breakfast cereals and soda, because their bright, vivid tones are particularly eye -catching.
At the beginning of this month, the Western Virginia deputies, if the law was signed by the Governor of the State in 2028, which will enter into force in 2028. 40 and Green No. He crossed a bill that banned seven of these paints, including 3. The bill follows a similar move that prohibits six paints from the food presented in public schools from California last year.
On Wednesday, Arizona deputies organized a round table debate on a bill of law that prohibits public schools from serving or selling certain chemicals, including synthetic paints.
Kennedy’s forcing to eliminate artificial paints
“There was really no base movement… and this changed the election cycle, Jerol, who was also a former FDA Senior Consultant at the Harvard Th Chan Public Health School and a former Food Safety Director at the Ministry of Agriculture. “I think Maha plays a big role in this.”
It is not a new movement in any way: FDA, in the 1970s, a California allergy and a pediatrician proposed a possible link. Agency, one 2007 Studies published in LancetHe said artificial paints cause hyperactivity in children.
In FDA in 2011 and 2019 Data examined However, a causal relationship could not be established for children who had not been diagnosed with behavioral disorders before. Scientists and Doctors He called more research on the subject. FDA did not respond to the request for comments. FDA said that “color additives examine and continue to examine the effects of children’s behavior”.
Although the FDA has not established a connection, there is one of the government officials and external groups – or there are worries from parents.
West Virginia province Del. Evan Worrell said in a call with journalists on Tuesday, “It is extremely important for us to change our school meals.” “Today we have some behavioral problems in our school system and I will not direct them all to food dyes, but this is a contributor.”
Kennedy, who controls FDA, previously claimed that paints were linked to hyperactivity and learning disorders. Founded 2021 Report From the California Environmental Health Danger Office, food dyes that review 27 trials in children and have been concluded may intervene in normal behaviors in some children.
According to an HHS official, at a closed meeting this month, the managers from large food companies, from large food companies at a closed meeting this month, promises to eliminate artificial paints, saying that they want to go to the end of their era, according to an HHS official. However, considering the goal of reducing federal expenditures throughout the government, it is not clear whether the Trump administration will have money or resources to do so.
Other paints permitted by FDA include the red number used in cereals, gelatins and pudding. 40; Yellow No. 5, used in snacks, condiments, cooked goods and yogurt; And the green number used in ice cream, sherbet and beverage mixers. 3.
Marion Nestle, Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health at the University of New York, said FDA’s efforts to act on artificial paints forced states and local groups to accelerate.
State deputies also point to other countries, as in Europe, where food dyes are more intensively organized.
Nevertheless, Nestle should be based on solid scientific evidence that FDA has done to prohibit certain chemicals, a potential connection. The red ban number 3 of the agency was based on research that connects chemicals to cancer in laboratory rats. Although there was no evidence in people, it was enough to convince FDA.
Although some studies have proposed a connection between some paints and an increase in hyperactivity and crankiness or irritability in children, the evidence is still not certain, which can explain why the FDA takes so long.
“The research is really hard, Nest Nestle said, questioning how Kennedy will prohibit chemicals. “You can’t do this in humans. You can’t take a group of children and give them food paints and another group of children, and you can’t see what happened.” He said there was evidence that some children react badly to color paints.
However, it may be difficult for food companies to defend the use of chemicals – especially because they do not protect food or provide nutritional benefits.
In a statement, Sarah Gallo, Senior Vice President of Consumer Brands Association, which is an industrial trade group, said that food and beverage producers are dependent on food safety and criticized an approach on a state basis.
“A state patchwork approach in the field of food regulation creates unnecessary confusion for consumers, limits access to daily goods and increases costs in the market, Gall Gallo said.
Mande from Harvard said that some food companies have not received discussions about the potentially high cost of moving away from synthetic paints, and companies have managed to find “natural” color additives to change them in other countries where synthetic ones are banned.
Nestle said that some companies have failed to eliminate artificial paints from their products in the past.
MARS announced a plan in 2016 Remove artificial paints from all products However He left hostage In 2021, he says: ık We found that consumer expectations about the colors in foods vary greatly between markets and categories. ”
General Mills also switched to natural paints in their cereals in 2016, but A year later, it brought back artificial colors After complaining that new colors are depressing.
“We don’t really need these things. The only functions are cosmetics,” Nestle said. “Should we use the principle of the European precautionary principle: If we cannot prove that these things are safe, we will not use them?”
Florida’dan 34 -year -old Wendy Bakos’un two children Harper, 7 and Caden, 3 -year -old, about a year ago, the way away from foods containing artificial paints.
He joined a Facebook group that worries about possible health problems and made a similar transition that lists resources and recipes.
The most challenging part of the transition is to find the unpainted sugar that his children love, especially Harper.
However, they found alternatives like a brand called Unreal and discovered that Trader Joe offered sugar without artificial paints.
Bakos said, “Let’s say we didn’t eat too much like frotot loops and things.” “With sugar, especially as in Halloween, ‘One second, why can’t I eat it?’ But the moment I introduced him to alternatives, he was good.
Similarly, Humboldt, 36 -year -old Liz Dent from Iowa, did not find much problems when he stopped buying food with paints for his children Evelyn, 9 and Ella.
Dent sends his children to school with unpainted candies, absorbors and fruit snacks. Also always keeps a box of juice box and popsicles.
The most difficult part of the transition, said he had participated in events such as birthday parties.
“When we are in special events such as a theme park or fair, we should only bring our own food if we go to Disney World,” Dent said. “If we go somewhere and everyone can be a snow cone, my children can’t have it. My children can’t have cotton candy. My children can’t have cookies or ice cream.”
