It’s good news that California will soon consider legislation to ban toxic artificial colors in the food offered in public schools.
The bill, introduced this week by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino), would ban six food colors that have been linked to behavioral difficulties like inattentiveness and impaired memory in some children, and titanium dioxide, which has been associated with chromosomal damage (Figure 1).
The percentage of children and adolescents diagnosed with ADHD has nearly doubled in the past 20 years. So prohibiting schools from offering food with chemicals that may be contributing to behavioral difficulties makes sense – for students, parents and teachers.
The legislation, Assembly Bill 2316, would apply only to food offered in California public schools. It would not apply to food sold in retail stores or online.
Schools can offer students plenty of options made without these harmful colors.
Using data from the Department of Agriculture’s Child Nutrition Food Programs and analysis by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, EWG found that few foods available in schools use the ingredients that A.B. 2316 would ban. The vast majority of school foods are already made without toxic chemicals linked to behavioral problems.
Many students from low-income and under-resourced backgrounds often rely on free meals provided at school, so this bill would help ensure that, at least when it comes to school food, a student’s socioeconomic status doesn’t determine their ability to eat food free of these toxic chemicals.
Figure 1. Artificial colors that A.B. 2316 would ban in school foods
| Chemical | Health risks | Type of product | Most recent FDA review | Alternatives |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red 40 | Behavioral difficulties in children | Cereal, ice cream, drinks, candy, popsicles, cheese-flavored chips, toaster pastries, yogurt, jellies, sprinkles, fruit cups | 1971 | Anthocyanins, black/purple carrot, elderberry, purple sweet potato, beet |
| Yellow 5 | Behavioral difficulties in children | Cereal, ice cream, drinks, candy, popsicles, cheese-flavored chips, toaster pastries, sprinkles, fruit cups | 1969 | Annatto, saffron, turmeric, beta-carotene, paprika |
| Yellow 6 | Behavioral difficulties in children | Cereal, ice cream, drinks, candy, popsicles, cheese-flavored chips, toaster pastries, sprinkles, fruit cups | 1986 | Annatto, saffron, turmeric, beta-carotene, paprika |
| Blue 1 | Behavioral difficulties in children | Cereal, ice cream, drinks, popsicles, candy, sprinkles, yogurt | 1969 | Spirulina, butterfly pea flower extract, anthocyanin, red cabbage |
| Blue 2 | Behavioral difficulties in children | Cereal, ice cream, drinks, popsicles, candy, sprinkles, yogurt | 1983 | Spirulina, butterfly pea flower extract, anthocyanin, red cabbage |
| Green 3 | Behavioral difficulties in children | Cereal, ice cream, drinks, popsicles, candy, sprinkles | 1982 | Spirulina, chlorophyll, matcha |
| Titanium dioxide (white pigment) | Genotoxicity, immunotoxicity, inflammation | Candy, salad dressing, processed desserts, frosting, cheese, canned soup | 1973 | Calcium carbonate, rice and corn starches and flours |
The evidence linking behavioral problems to the consumption of synthetic food colors is compelling.
An exhaustive review by California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, or OEHHA, concluded that consumption of these toxic food colors can result in behavioral difficulties in some children. The OEHHA’s scientists found that children vary in their sensitivity to synthetic food dyes – much as they do with food allergens.
The levels in food deemed “safe” by the Food and Drug Administration may not sufficiently protect children’s behavioral health, the scientists found. Those levels were established by the FDA decades ago and, according to OEHHA, do not reflect the latest research.
The experts said the FDA’s “acceptable daily intake” levels for synthetic food dyes are based on decades-old studies that were not designed to detect the types of behavioral effects that have been observed in children.
Several “challenge studies” assessed by OEHHA show that some children are likely to be more adversely affected by synthetic food dyes than others.
Animal studies also show that synthetic food dyes affect activity, memory and learning, change the way chemicals carry signals from one nerve to the next in the brain, and cause microscopic changes in brain structure.
The FDA’s failure to periodically review the safety of food chemicals, not just food colors, is well-documented.
Almost 99 percent of the food chemicals that have entered the marketplace since 2000 were reviewed by food and chemical companies, not the FDA. Even when the FDA does conduct its own review, decades typically pass before the FDA completes another review, if ever.
The FDA’s most recent list of chemicals “under review” includes only one of the seven food chemicals in the new California bill – titanium dioxide – and only because groups like EWG formally petitioned the agency to act.
Both titanium dioxide and Green Dye No. 3 are prohibited from all foods sold in the European Union, and three others can be used only if accompanied by warnings.
States should not wait for the FDA to act. California recently banned four toxic food chemicals from foods sold, manufactured or distributed in the state. Now California should go further by protecting our kids from toxic food colors when they're at school.
