California ‘Skittles ban’ prompts calls for US to outlaw OTHER cancer-causing food additives that are illegal in Europe

Health experts are calling on the United States to catch up with the international community and ban potentially dangerous additives in food. 

Last week, California became the first state to take a major legal step in ridding food of cancer-causing additive ingredients. 

Gov Gavin Newsom signed the so-called ‘Skittles ban’ Saturday, which outlaws four popular additives that have been linked to kidney, thyroid and gastrointestinal cancer and mood disorders.

But there are still more than one dozen other ingredients that, despite their known health risks and prohibition in European countries, are present in foods people eat every day. 

Registered Dietician Dr Carolyn Williams told DailyMail.com it was about time legislation was enacted to protect Americans from harmful food additives. 

She said: ‘It’s kind of embarrassing that a state had to [enact a ban] before the federal government because there are various amounts of knowledge that we know of these ingredients and they vary in their potential health risks.’

None of the ingredients on the banned list are critical or necessary in products, but they are often cheaper, easier and faster to use in recipes. 

They also help to achieve prettier and more uniform products, but a natural ingredient could be used in their place. 

While Dr Williams is hopeful other states will follow California’s lead, she would still like to see better regulation at the federal level, but acknowledges this will likely not come anytime soon. 

‘It takes the FDA several years to make changes. There is a lot of bureaucracy and they want to see overwhelming evidence’ that a certain ingredient has a specific negative impact on health.

Dr Williams explained because different additives can have a range of effects on different people and their true health detriments cannot be tested over time in humans, it is hard to conclusively say what the side effects of each ingredient is. 

She said: ‘We can’t give a group of humans large amounts of potassium bromate and see what happens. We can’t give them a huge dose for a year and then see how many develop cancer.

‘So you really have to use animal studies and longevity population studies… looking at people eating foods for 50 years and looking at cancer rates, but that’s not really showing cause and effect.

‘In animal studies, typically what you know is if it’s linked to potential cancer risk in animals, it’s assumed that it can be potentially carcinogenic in people.’ 

Included in California’s ban is the suspected carcinogen potassium bromate. While already banned in Europe, China and India, it is present in more than 100 products sold in the United States.

The chemical compound is often used to strengthen dough and is in the form of white crystals or powders. It is commonly found in baked goods and breads.

However, it is also a suspected carcinogen and has been shown to cause kidney, thyroid and gastrointestinal cancers in animals.

Dr Williams said: ‘We can’t say directly that yes, if you have too much of this, it causes cancer, but it appears that it does.

‘And what we do know is that when potassium bromate breaks down in the body, it oxidizes and turns into free radicals. And we do know that free radicals are associated with cancer, mutation and DNA changes.’

It would be encouraging, Dr Williams continued, if the FDA followed more closely with the regulators in the European Union.

Regulators in the EU rely on the ‘precautionary principle,’ which looks at if there is a scientific possibility of harm, even if a risk analysis has not proven it, the ingredient should still be avoided. The FDA, however, relies on ‘overwhelming evidence.’

Dr Williams said: ‘The FDA approaches risk associated with food additives very differently than most other countries.

‘We’re working from two opposite spectrums. The European Union and a lot of other countries, they’re like, “Okay, this may potentially have a risk, let’s not use it” versus [the US says] “let’s use it.”‘

The EU’s precautionary principle is much more conservative than the FDA’s regulation, which can be demonstrated by the fact that most of the controversial food additives in the US are banned in the EU. 

The EU avoids ingredients that have not demonstrated the benefits outweigh the risks, but the FDA asks, Dr Williams said: ‘”is there really a risk?” And so you have to have overwhelming evidence to show there’s a risk before [the additive] is taken out or banned for usage.’

And while the additives in question may be allowed by the FDA, one of the things research has been showing, Dr Williams said, is that the levels they are present in food are a lot higher than the FDA threshold: ‘So we may get getting a much larger dosage. We don’t know.’

Jesse Gabriel, a Democrat for Woodland Hills who proposed California’s bill, said: ‘The Governor’s signature today represents a huge step in our effort to protect children and families in California from dangerous and toxic chemicals in our food supply.

‘It is unacceptable that the US is so far behind the rest of the world when it comes to food safety.

‘This bill will not ban any foods or products — it simply will require food companies to make minor modifications to their recipes and switch to safer alternative ingredients.

‘These are already in use in Europe and so many other places around the globe.’

Calls from officials for safer food have been ongoing for years as more research has shown food additives, and even their packaging, can cause major health issues. 

Results from a 2022 National Institutes of Health (NIH) study stated ‘chemical food additives can trigger a slew of serious issues,’ including congenital eye and brain abnormalities.

The American Academy of Pediatrics issued a warning in a 2018 statement on food additives and child health, saying there were ’emerging child health concerns related to the use of colorings, flavorings and chemicals deliberately added to food during processing.’

The Environmental Working Group published a guide in 2020 on the harm of food additives ‘because the Food and Drug Administration’s regulatory approach to food additives does not consider the latest science on the health harms caused by additives that may be legally added to processed foods manufactured in the US.’