New Fears, and Coke and Pepsi react. Sort of.

Well, there is yet another new fear out there and soooooo many people consume it daily that California passed a law wherein if you added this to your product, then you had to put it on the label.  The new threat to the health of the world, 4-Methylimidazole.  Or 4-Mel as it is called in the trade.  It is an ingredient in caramel coloring.  Yep, that's right, caramel coloring.  The stuff is in most every soft drink out there, as well as cheaper beers, and is added to a whole host of products wanting a nice darker color.  It has been shown to cause significant alteration of systems when fed to mice at concentrations of 115 mg 4MI/kg body weight.  What this means is that in order to significantly impact a human, to achieve the same dosage as that as a rat over the period of one year, then a human would have to consume about 19,000 cans of soda per day for 40 years. 

Sounds silly doesn't it?  Well, there are of course two things that bother me about this and need to be looked at in detail.  First, there are caramel colorings out there that have significantly lower levels of 4-Mel in them rather than the stuff that processors have been using.  When California legislature passed the law in 2011, Coke and Pepsi began to look at those alternatives, and now use them.  Second, why haven't the leaders in California, or for that matter EVERY STATE in the US or even the incredibly corrupt FDA banned additives like Aspartame, potassium bromate,  Ethoxylated mono- and diglycerides, calcium steryl lactalate, azodicarbonamide and calcium propionate.  Or why don't they ban nearly all of the artificial sweeteners since they have proven cancer causing properties, or ban the use of glyphosate weed killer on crops for human or animal consumption.  Or for that matter why don't they ban all Genetically Modified plants and animals as we now have specific detailed indisputable research proving that GM plants are harmful to humans? 

Why?

Honestly, I have no idea why.  There are safer alternatives to most of the toxic additives and preservatives that food processors put into our food.  In fact most of the rest of the world outlaws the chemicals that the US puts into our food supply.  Just last week, Russia banned all imports of meat from the US because American meat is tainted with a poison called Ractopamine and the US is the ONLY country allowed to use it and no one else wants it.  WHY ARE ALL THESE TOXINS ALLOWED IN THE FOOD WE EAT!

I think this is something we need to ask our elected rulers.