Assignment #16- Ezra Mulalic

Macaroni and Cheese! Single handedly the greatest dish in the world, it has the ability to turn your bad day into an amazing day with a simple bite. I always remember going “hmmm” after I took that first bite when I was younger, and how great I felt after eating it. I thought my love for mac and cheese would never be broken, I thought we were some perfect couple with no chance of splitting. I kept this mentality until I read this article about food additives that are allowed in America but banned in other places. It should how some additives found in macaroni and cheese were linked to cause cancer, and it astonished me. This brings me to the idea that there should be more regulations placed in order to prevent these additives from entering our food. As you can see here, food dyes are found in a lot of popular foods, but they have been linked to many problems. The most problematic dyes are Yellow number 5 and 6, red number 5, and blue number 2. All have been proven to cause fatigue, migraines, blurred vision, and anxiety. These artificial food colors contain petroleum and other petrochemicals. According to an article on AvainWeb, the human body is not used to consuming these chemicals and can cause other health risks. As the food companies just want to attract consumers and gain more money, manufacturers use these petrochemicals in their food products, without it even acknowledging the consequences it can have on people. However, only a few artificial colors have been removed from stores that have been proven to cause cancer. This still leaves the main ones in the manufacturing process though. The Kraft macaroni and cheese also contains phthalates. Phthalates are a family of chemical compounds primarily used to create toys, vinyl, perfume, nail polish, and other cosmetics. These chemicals get into foods during the manufacturing process, and a small study done by the Coalition for Safer Food Processing and Packaging found that 29 of 30 cheese products tested contained phthalates, with the powdered cheese containing the highest amounts, four times more than regular cheese. Phthalates were tested to be pretty toxic, shown to damage your reproductive system, kidneys, and it increases your chance of getting a chronic disease. Nearly all Americans contain phthalates in their urine according to Ami Zota, assistant professor and occupational health at the George Washington University. 

In 1958, America passed an amendment for the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act prohibiting the FDA from allowing food additives linked to cancer to be able to enter the industry. This amendment left out previous additives already established in the industry, so these additives were grandfathered in and are still used today. This leaves many bad food additives still in circulation in our industry, while the E.U. have banned most of them. The E.U. bans and strictly restricts many food additives that have been linked with cancer, such as potassium bromate and azodicarbonamide (ADA). Both these additives are whitening agents and flour additives that help baked goods rise higher, and sometimes these additives are altered during baking and has been shown to cause cancer in animals. Another example is the additive brominated vegetable oil (BVO), used in some citrus-flavored drinks. This additives contains BVO, found in flame retardants, and has been shown to accumulate in the body, and can potentially cause memory loss and nerve issues. The most famous drink that BVO is found in, is Mountain Dew. This drink was banned in more than 100 countries outside of the United States, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, and the European Union. In 2013, ABC news reported that the BVO located in Mountain Dew was used in order to keep the flavor from separating, and PepsiCo spokesperson assured American consumers that BVO found in drinks is safe to be consumed. This idea that BVO is safe to consumed has been challenged by many scientists, like an Environmental Working Group and researchers at Duke University found a cancer - causing flame retardant in the bodies of all 22 mothers and 26 children tested. Syngenta’s weed killer Atrazine is a potent endocrine disruptor that was banned in Europe in 2003. According to UC Berkeley Professor Tyrone Hayes,”The Atrazine chemically castrates and feminizes wildlife and reduces immune function in both wildlife and laboratory rodents.” Professor Hayes found that the chemical has also been found to cause breast and prostate cancer, and induce abortion in lab animals, with studies in humans suggesting similiar results. In America, Atrazine is most commonly used in water containment, affecting the drinking quality of many. Many have looked at how this food additive might connect to America’s life expectancy rates and infant mortality rates , as compared to other countries both of these fall short. For example, in 2018 America’s life expectancy is 79.65 years and United Kingdom’s is 82 years. The infant mortality also showed a connect to the food additives, comparing to America out of every 1000 infants 5.8 would die, while comparing to United Kingdom’s 3.9.

In order to lessen the effects of these additives on the health of many American citizens, there should be more stricter regulations and bans on these additives. As seen they have shown to be linked to cause cancer, affect major organs, and the overall health of everyone. There needs to be newer acts and amendments and more stricter enforcement on these industries exploiting cheap and unsafe additives. Americans need to better avoid the toxins and chemical additives mentioned above which would be an ultimate first step to lessening diseases, and improving the health of everyone. 

Works Cited:

Commissioner, Office of the. “The 1938 Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.” U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA, https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/histories-product-regulation/1938-food-drug-and-cosmetic-act.

Essays, UK. (November 2018). Food Additives and Unhealthiness. Retrieved from https://www.ukessays.com/essays/english-language/health-risk-of-food-additives-english-language-essay.php?vref=1

“The Dangers Yellow 5 Dye!” The Organic Diabetic™, 1 Dec. 1970, https://theorganicdiabetic.org/2014/12/the-dangers-of-yellow-5-dye/.

Wade, Marcia. “Phthalates: Are They Safe?” WebMD, WebMD, 15 Aug. 2016, https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/features/what-are-phthalates#1.

Weil, Andrew. “Are Flame Retardants Toxic? - Ask Dr. Weil.” DrWeil.com, 4 Dec. 2016, https://www.drweil.com/health-wellness/balanced-living/healthy-home/are-flame-retardants-toxic/.

“Why Was Mountain Dew Banned?” Reference, IAC Publishing, https://www.reference.com/world-view/mountain-dew-banned-a8eb5433e7f09bde.