United States: The legislature in California has greenlighted a bill with bipartisan support, and banned the usage of red dye No. 40, along with five other chemicals used in foods being served in public schools.
More about the news
California on Thursday became the first state in the US to pass such a bill, which if signed into law, would make the usage of the ingredients found in some popular cereals, ice creams, drinks, candy, ice pops, cheese-flavored chips, jellies and more illegal, as per the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit environmental health organization, which also supported the law with Consumer reports.
More about the bill
The bill is called the California School Food Safety Act, which was introduced by Democratic Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel in February.
As per the reports, Assembly Bill 2316 forbids a school district, county superintendent of schools, or charter school with grades kindergarten to 12th from providing food items and beverages, that happen to contain red dye No. 40, yellow dyes Nos. 5 and 6, blue dyes Nos. 1 and 2, and green dye No. 3.
The Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, who is a Democrat, would sign the bill before September 30, which if legalized would be enacted on the last day of 2027.
Why such a bill?
As CNN Health reported, California houses the largest public school system in the country, where more than 6.3 million students come in ten thousand schools, as said Tony Thurmond, state superintendent of public instruction and bill cosponsor.
According to a study conducted by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment in 2021, the bill originated from the worry that these dyes would pose risks to the children’s ability to learn, as they have been linked to behavioral difficulties and decreased attention among children.
Moreover, as Gabriel states, the law is “important to me as a parent, it’s important to me as somebody who’s struggled with ADHD as a child, and it’s important to me as a parent of a child who is struggling with ADHD.”
“We know that the synthetic food dyes that are targeted by this bill can cause harm for all kids, but we know that there is a specially pronounced impact on a lot of our young people with ADHD and other challenges,” he added.
As per Gabriel and the EWG, though “new science is available,” the US regulator, FDA’s current regulations of the dyes in food are based on research that is seventy years old.
Therefore, “Reassessing the safety of chemicals in food as new, relevant data become available is a priority for the FDA,” mentioned the agency.
“The FDA has reviewed the research on the effects of color additives on children’s behavior including the literature review cited by the Bill. The totality of scientific evidence shows that most children have no adverse effects when consuming foods containing color additives, but some evidence suggests that certain children may be sensitive to them,” it added, as CNN Health reported.