California wants to ban schoold from selling or serving artificially dyed foods like Doritos, Flaming Hot Cheetos, M&Ms, Froot Loops, Cap'n Crunch, Gatorade, and Welch's Fruit Snacks. A state lawmaker just introduced a bill that would yank foods with certain food coloring agents, along with titanium dioxide, from cafeteria menus. Proponents of the bill claim these additives are harming children, while those against the bill say there isn't enough research to back that claim.
Quick Facts on the Proposed California Food Coloring Ban:
If passed, Assembly Bill 2316 would be the first of its kind in the U.S. It would ban schools from serving foods that include Red 40, blue 1, blue 2, green 3, yellow 5, yellow 6, and titanium dioxide - a whitening agent that the EU nixed for possibly causing cancer and damage to our DNA - in its ingredients.
The culprit dyes have been linked to hyperactivity and attention troubles in some kiddos, in those with ADHD, and even some without.
Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, the mastermind behind the bill, says it's not about banning specific foods but encouraging companies to ditch the artificial stuff and embrace natural coloring alternatives like beet juice and turmeric. He notes that it could be as simple as changing one ingredient to make certain foods healthier if they want them to be served in schools.
Why Wouldn't We Remove Harmful Food Coloring Additives?
But even though there have been studies linking titanium dioxide and certain dyes to behavioral problems in children (according to the CDC, the number of ADHD diagnoses has risen nationally in recent years), the FDA says there's no clear link between these dyes and behavioral challenges in kids without ADHD. Even if so, why serve foods that could potentially amplify symptoms of the disorder when the tweaks to remove dyes as a non-essential ingredient appear to be quite easy?
Gabriel told NBC News, "It just totally harms these kids and undermines our investment in helping them when we expose them to chemicals that we know are going to exacerbate their challenges."
