FDA ignores dangers of food coloring
Consumer advocacy groups are working overtime trying to get the FDA to wake up to the dangers of artificial food colorings-especially for children. As usual, the FDA has turned a deaf ear. The consumer advocacy groups claim these additives could cause hyperactivity and behavior problems in some children.
As you know, I’m not the biggest believer in the ADHD/hyperactivity diagnosis in today’s kids – I think it’s overblown at best. But there’s some convincing and long-standing research about certain dyes used in foodstuffs triggering behavior issues, and the fact that the FDA obstinately refuses to open its mind to these possibilities well, it’s just standard operating procedure for the slow-footed government bureaucracy.
According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), studies conduced over the last 30 years have indicated that children’s behavior can be altered by some artificial dyes. In fact, the British government is currently pressuring UK food manufacturers to switch to safer food colorings.
The FDA, on the other hand, continually ignores these and other findings. Instead, our “vigilant” FDA emphatically says that additives DO NOT cause childhood hyperactivity.
But if the FDA is wrong – and well, let’s face it, they’ve been wrong before – imagine the consequences. There are no foods with more food coloring additives than children’s foods. The dyes are used in vast numbers of products that are marketed to children: cereals, candies, sodas, and snack foods. According to Michael F. Jacobson of CSPI, “The purpose of these chemicals is often to mask the absence of real food, to increase the appeal of a low-nutrition product to children, or both – who can tell the parents of kids with behavioral problems that this is truly worth the risk?”
As a parent, I encourage you to be on the safe side and establish your own ban Yellow 5, Red 40, Blue 1, Blue 2, Green 3, Orange B, Red 3, and Yellow 6. I don’t think something called “Green 3″ occurs naturally
FDA sued for slow-footed response to petition
Two years ago, the group Public Citizen filed a petition to the FDA asking that it ban the prescription painkiller propoxphene. They’re still waiting for a response from the slow-footed government agency – which is why they’ve decided to sue.
Public Citizen says that the agency broke the law by not ruling on their petition within six months.
The requested ban isn’t without merit. Propoxphene (marketed as Darvon and Darvocette) has caused the accidental deaths of upwards of 2,000 people since 1981. It can be addictive and can cause serious side effects like slowed heartbeat and other cardiac issues. It’s even been pulled off the market entirely in Britain because of its links to accidental deaths.
And all for what? The drug isn’t even that effective. Public Citizen’s Dr. Sidney Wolfe unearthed studies claiming that over-the-counter ibuprofen is more effective at treating most types of pain than propoxphene.
Public Citizen is definitely fighting the good fight. I always admire the pluck of groups that regularly line up to play David in the face of the government’s Goliath. And while I admire them for holding the FDA’s feet to the fire over their petition, I think we all know how the FDA will rule on that petition: they’ll decline it.
Propoxphene has been around for a while and is considered one of the weaker prescription painkillers, and – this is the important part – it’s one of the most widely prescribed generic drugs, with over 22 million prescriptions in 2007.
In other words: ka-ching!
Obviously, Big Pharma is making big bucks off the marketing of propoxphene, so what do you think the odds are that some petition will move the FDA to act? Even as I write this, I can tell you’re slowly shaking your head. Unfortunately, we all know how this is going to turn out. But I’ll keep an eye on this story anyway
