Ban Artificial Flavors, Dyes and Preservatives!!!

ON COLORING:
You know those pretty colors that make the fruit punch red, the gelatin green, the oatmeal blue, and cake icing pink? Do you know what those colors come from?

Believe it or not, most artificial flavorings are derived from petroleum, crude oil, which is also the source for gasoline. They have been shown to affect the RNA, thyroid, and enzymes. Most have never even been studied for safety or toxicity. They are all synthesized chemicals that don't even have common names.

You will find them listed on the ingredient labels; the label may say "FD&C" before the number. That means "Food, Drug & Cosmetics." When you see a number listed as "D&C", such as "D&C Red #33" it means that this coloring is considered safe for medicine, and cosmetics, BUT NOT FOR FOOD!

Blue 2 - has caused brain tumors in mice; may cause them in humans as well

Red 3 – has causes thyroid tumors in rats; may cause them in humans as well

Yellow 6 - third most often used food coloring; has been found to cause adrenal gland and kidney tumors, and contains small amounts of many carcinogens

These dyes and flavors are combinations of many chemicals. An artificial flavoring may be composed of hundreds of separate chemicals, and there is no restriction on what a company can use.

For example: One source for imitation vanilla flavoring called "vanillin" is the waste product of paper mills. Some companies built factories next to the pulp mills to turn the undesirable by-product into imitation flavoring, widely used in many cookies, candies and other foods

Note the following sentence:
"The color certification program is self-supporting because the law requires manufacturers to pay FDA a user fee for each pound of color the agency certifies."
They do not say that they get paid per pound examined. The FDA gets paid per pound passed!!!

ON PRESERVATIVES:
BHA, BHT and TBHQ; those initials stand for three major preservatives found in many foods, especially in the United States. Like the dyes, they are made from petroleum, which is crude oil. Often, they are not listed in the ingredients.

These chemicals may be listed as "anti-oxidants". They prevent the fats in foods spoiling. There are many natural, beneficial anti-oxidants, but they are much more expensive than the synthetic versions.

In the United States there are more than 3,000 substances which can be added to foods for the purpose of preservation, coloring, texture, increasing flavor and more. While each of these substances is legal to use here in the US, whether or not they are dangerous for your health is a whole other story.

Artificial colors have been around for more than 100 years. Originally they were made from coal tar oil. And children have been eating artificially colored and flavored products for decades but…

100 year ago . . . most children ate these additives rarely.

Today . . . a typical child in the United States eats these powerful chemicals all day, every day:

Flintstone vitamins with coloring & flavoring
Bright pink, bubble-gum flavored medicine
school lunches: highly processed loaded with synthetics
Candy with synthetic additives

THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!!!

BOTTOM LINE:
We live in a toxic world as it is. We don’t need toxins added to the foods we serve our children everyday.