Of Cats and Kids
The Dayglo Donut Dilemma
Posted by: Carol Lombardi
Wednesday, June 4, 2008 2:49 PM
This article, about banning artificial colors in food, is pretty interesting. It has taken me a long time to make the connection as to how certain food dyes affect my child. It has become clear to me that a steady diet of these colors could propel this particular child into school problems and ultimately to a psychiatrist's office. Not every child. My child.
Maybe she's the only one in the world to be affected this way, but maybe there are a few others. For the past year or so, I have undertaken the Herculean task of reading labels to try to avoid as many artificial colors as I can. I can't avoid them all, and, honestly, a small amount does not seem to be too bad. One neon orange cheezy morsel is ok. A bag of them is a disaster. I don't really care if other parents feed their children Day-Glo pink bagels with neon blue cream cheese every day. That is their choice. But I want a choice, too.
So this quote, in response to the request to label products with artificial food dyes, really annoyed me: "Robert Brackett, chief science officer for the Grocery Manufacturers Association, said the overwhelming majority of scientific evidence confirms the safety of certified food dyes. "Based on these findings, there is no need for consumers to alter their purchasing and eating habits," Brackett said. "They and their children can safely enjoy food products containing these food colors."
I'm not saying the colors should be banned. But it would really, really be nice if they were labeled. People who don't have a problem with those chemicals in their food are free to buy their favorite products, and I would be free to avoid them. I'm not sure why that would be a bad thing. Surely the Grocery Manufacturers Association is not implying that they want to hide these perfectly safe chemicals in their products. But apparently they do.
And I can look forward to many more long, boring trips to the grocery store discovering that yogurt, applesauce, white frosting, whole grain crackers and nearly every "healthy" cereal on the shelf all contain artificial colors.
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