Why candy lovers shouldn’t panic over California’s ‘Skittle ban’
For fans of candy – and who isn’t one? – the headlines have been alarming: a California bill would “ban Skittles”, the rainbow-colored fruity sweets, alongside treats including M&Ms, Nerds and some baked goods.
It’s true a lawmaker is pushing for changes that would affect the products, but the reality is much less terrifying.
A measure in the California assembly seeks to ban five chemicals that turn up in popular snacks – including red dye No 3, potassium bromate, propyl paraben, brominated vegetable oil and titanium dioxide, an ingredient in Skittles – but the bill’s sponsor is an avowed Skittles fan.
“I love Skittles. I would vote against a bill to ban Skittles and I think there is a 0% chance that this bill is going to result in Skittles or any other product coming off the shelves,” says Jesse Gabriel, a state lawmaker in southern California.
Instead, Gabriel says, if the bill passes, he would expect manufacturers of foods that contain some of the five banned chemicals toalter their recipes. The additives – substances placed in foods in small quantities to enhance them in some way – have been linked to various health harms. European authorities, for instance, said they could not rule out an association between titanium dioxide and cancer, while red dye No 3, which is banned in US cosmetics but not food, may be linked to thyroid cancer in animals.
These chemicals are already banned in Europeand manufacturers could simply modify their recipes here as they do there, Gabriel argues.
“No one’s going to walk away from the California market,” he says.
He was inspired to take action after “seeing that there was really good data and science linking these chemicals to cancer, to reproductive harm, to behavioral and developmental
Read more on theguardian.com
