You may not have the opportunity to “taste the rainbow” in California.
One state lawmaker is proposing to ban additives used in several candies – including Skittles, Sour Patch Kids, Pez and gummies – as they’re linked to cancer, organ damage and may be harmful to DNA, reported the Each day Mail.
As well as, Trident sugar-free gum is in danger, as well as savorier items such as Campbell’s soup and small brands of bread.
“Californians shouldn’t worry that the food they buy at their local food market may be full of dangerous additives or toxic chemicals.” – Jesse Gabriel, Los Angeles Assemblyman, who proposed the ban in the billhe said in an announcement.
The Gabriel laws targets five substances in particular: propylparaben, red dye 3, brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate and titanium dioxide. The latter three have already been banned in the European Union.
This law wouldn’t only prevent them from being sold, but would also prohibit the manufacture of food products with these ingredients throughout the Gold State.
“This bill will correct a worrying lack of federal oversight and help protect our youngsters, public health and the safety of our food supply,” Gabriel added.
“The concept is for [companies] change their recipes,” he told the outlet, adding that he was speculating on a uniform change of recipe for confectionery and food, not batches of custom Cali.
Last 12 months, Skittles manufacturer Mars was sued by a consumer over the use of titanium dioxide, a color enhancing ingredient. Although the suit was rejected, experts noted concerns about the dioxide.
In 2015, research — published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature — discovered that titanium dioxide can accumulate in the bloodstream, liver, spleen and kidneys.
As for the red dye 3, research from 2012 links the ingredient to DNA-damaging genotoxicity. In 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency informed about it children who ate the dye they were more prone to be hyperactive and inattentive.
The Mail reported that brominated vegetable oil was recently faraway from Mountain Dew by parent company Pepsi in 2020.
The EU, together with Canada and Brazil, has banned potassium bromate because of its association with thyroid and kidney cancer.