Coca-Cola and PepsiCo Agree to
Remove Flame Retardant Chemical from Their Products
April 22, 2015
Story at-a-glance
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Bowing to public pressure, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have
both agreed to remove brominated vegetable oil (BVO)
from all of their beverages in the near future
BVO, first patented as a flame retardant, contains
bromine, which has been found accumulating in people’s
bodies and in women’s breast milk
Bromine is a toxic endocrine disruptor that can damage
your thyroid and lead to cancer, infertility,
schizophrenia, and many other serious diseases
BVO is banned across Europe and Japan, but in the US is
still permitted under “interim” status, pending safety
studies—for the last 44 years!
FDA says studying BVO is not a priority for them at this
time because it’s “not a public health risk” and shares
interim status with saccharin, mannitol, and
acrylonitrile
By Dr. Mercola
Bowing to public pressure, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have both agreed
to remove brominated vegetable oil (BVO) from all of their beverages
in the near future. BVO was first patented as a flame retardant, but
has also been added to many American sodas for decades.
The problem is recent research shows that
bromine builds up in your body, and in breast milk.
BVO has resulted in some soda-drinkers requiring medical
attention for skin lesions, memory loss, and nerve problems related
to bromine overexposure, which is why Europe and Japan have
banned this chemical from their food and beverages.
Public pressure to remove BVO was suddenly fueled by a 2012
petition with more than 20,000 supporters, initiated by
then-15-year-old girl Sarah Kavanagh who wanted chemicals removed
from sports drinks like Gatorade.1
This is a great reminder about what a powerful force consumer
pressure can be. If a 15-year-old girl can push through a petition
with this much consequence, consider what YOU can do by voting with
your pocket book, each and every day!
Out with BVO—In with Franken-Rosins
Coca-Cola vowed to remove BVO from its drinks by the end of 2014,
but at present, it still appears to be included in some of
Coca-Cola's products,2
specifically Fanta Orange, Fanta Orange Zero, and Fresca Original
Citrus.
PepsiCo removed BVO from Gatorade in 2013 and, following
Coco-Cola’s May 5, 2014 announcement, said it would be dropping the
chemical from the rest of its products, although it did not give a
time frame.3
Coca-Cola says they add BVO to improve the stability of soft
drinks, especially those with citrus flavorings. According to the
San Diego Reader, “Without BVO, your favorite lemony-limy soda would
look like the Gulf of Alaska in the wake of the Exxon-Valdez.4
Both Coca-Cola and Pepsi companies deny that their decisions to
remove BVO are in any way health-related. Coca-Cola says it plans to
replace BVO with sucrose acetate isobutyrate (SAIB) and glycerol
ester of rosin (GEGR and GEWR).
The safety of these additives is debatable, as very few studies
exist. Gum rosins received a negative safety rating by the European
Food Safety Authority.5
Meanwhile, Germany and other countries have found safer, more
natural substitutes for BVO.
For example, food chemist Walter Vetter at Germany's University
of Hohenheim suggests American soda makers could easily replace BVO
with hydrocolloids, which are used in many European sodas.
Hydrocolloids are natural agents that achieve similar results, minus
the health risks.6
It isn't clear why American beverage manufacturers are unwilling
to swap out BVO for something like a hydrocolloid, but I would guess
that their unwillingness to change most likely has something to do
the cost.
Coca-Cola and PepsiCo Are Not the Only Beverage Companies Adding BVO
Brominated vegetable oil (BVO) is vegetable oil, derived from
corn or soy and bonded with the element bromine. It's added to
beverages as an emulsifier, to prevent the flavorings from
separating and floating to the surface.
According to Scientific American,7
the numerous bromine atoms in BVO weigh down the citrus flavoring so
that it mixes with sugar water, or in the case of
flame retardants, slows down chemical reactions that cause a
fire (the effectiveness of which is debatable, by the way).
Brominated flame retardants have lately undergone intense
scrutiny, because research has shown that they are building up in
people's bodies, including women's breast milk, around the world.
Coca-Cola and Pepsi aren't the only beverages that contain this
potentially hazardous ingredient, though.BVO is added to about 10
percent of all sodas sold in the US, as well as many energy and
sports drinks and fruit drinks, including but not limited to the
following brands:8,9
Diet Mountain Dew
Mountain Dew
Fanta Orange
Sunkist Pineapple
Gatorade Thirst Quencher Orange
Fresca Original Citrus
Powerade Fruit Punch and Strawberry Lemonade
Fresca Original Citrus
Crush Orange Soda
Safeway Grapefruit Diet Soda
Diet Sundrop
Squirt
Many Amp Energy Drinks
Great Value Sports Drinks
Wegmans Fruit Punch
Safeway Tom Collins Mix
Beyond Soda, There Are Several Other Sources of Bromine
BVO is not the only source of bromine exposure you should be
concerned about. You can be exposed to other forms from a variety of
sources and products, from brominated flour to your asthma
medication:
Pesticides(specifically methyl bromide,
used mainly on strawberries, predominantly in California)
Baked goods and flour: potassium
bromate is added to many as a "dough conditioner"10,11
Drugs such as Atrovent Inhaler,
Atrovent Nasal Spray, Pro-Banthine (for ulcers), and
anesthesia agents
Plastics, like those used to make
computers and some polyethylene beverage bottles
Flame retardants used in fabrics,
carpets, upholstery, mattresses, and children's products
Swimming pools and hot tubs: many use
bromine-based treatments
Bromine Can Do Significant Damage to Your Thyroid
Bromines are endocrine disruptors, and part of the halide family,
a group of elements that also includes fluorine, chlorine, and
iodine. Studies suggest that BVO can build up in human tissues, and
animal studies have linked large doses to reproductive and
behavioral issues. One characteristic of bromine that makes it
detrimental to your health is that it competes for the same
receptors your body uses to capture iodine. If you are exposed to a
lot of bromine, your body will not hold on to iodine, which is
needed by every tissue, including your
thyroid gland.
Iodine is crucial for proper thyroid function. Without
iodine, your thyroid gland would be completely unable to produce
thyroid hormone. Thirteen million Americans are estimated to have
hypothyroidism, but the actual number is probably higher. Some
experts claim that 10 to 40 percent of Americans have suboptimal
thyroid function.
If you are one of those with suboptimal thyroid, your thyroid
gland itself may not be the problem. You may instead be suffering
from iodine deficiency brought on by inadequate consumption of
iodine-rich foods and/or excessive bromine exposure, which ends up
blocking your iodine uptake. This problem appears in conventional
blood tests as a glandular problem, but is actually a problem of
nutrition and/or toxicity.
The Risks of Bromine Reach Well Beyond Your Thyroid
The buildup of bromine in your body can result in iodine
deficiency and bromine toxicity12
that can manifest a variety of serious health problems over time,
including the following:
Increased cancer risk: Iodine deficiency
can increase your risk for cancers of the thyroid gland, breast,13
ovary, and prostate as a result of "bromide dominance"14
Infertility: One animal study found that
rats receiving one percent BVO in their feed suffered impaired
fertility, and at two percent, they became completely infertile15
Psychological/psychiatric problems: Because
bromine is a central nervous system depressant, it can produce
acute paranoia, psychosis, and other types of mental illness. In
an audio interview, physician Jorge Flechas reported that
between 1920 and 1960, at least 20 percent of all hospital
admissions for "acute paranoid schizophrenia" were a result of
common bromine exposure16
Skin rashes and lesions (bromoderma tuberosum):
Severe acne, folliculitis, papules, pustules, and other
skin eruptions17
Miscellaneous other problems: Fatigue,
anorexia, abdominal pain, metallic taste, and cardiac
arrhythmias (triggered by iodine depletion)18
Scientific American19
cites two case studies that illustrate how bromine toxicity can
threaten your health. In 1997, emergency room doctors at University
of California, Davis, reported a patient with severe bromine
intoxication from drinking two to four liters of orange soda every
day. He developed headaches, fatigue, ataxia (loss of muscle
coordination), and memory loss.20
Then in 2003, a 63-year-old Ohio man developed ulcers on his
swollen hands after drinking eight liters of Red Ruby Squirt every
day for several months. The man was diagnosed with bromoderma, a
rare skin hypersensitivity to bromine exposure. The patient quit
drinking the brominated soft drink and months later recovered.21
Government and Industry Claim BVO Is 'Safe Enough'
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) permitted the use of
BVO on an interim basis—meaning, temporary approval pending
additional study—way back in 1970.22
This effectively means they did not feel there was enough evidence
to support the designation of GRAS (Generally Regarded as Safe)
without further scientific investigation. But four decades is
not temporary! Yes, 44 years later, those studies have not been
done and BVO is STILL on the "interim" list. Why? It boils down to
one more example of how FDA favors policies that protect big
industry at the expense of public health.
According to the FDA, changing the status of BVO would be costly
and is "not a public health priority" at this time. Other food
additives that are in similar FDA limbo include saccharin, mannitol,
and acrylonitrile. You are swimming in a sea of chemicals that are
essentially untested—well, you and your children ARE the
test subjects...23
In 1977, FDA established what it considered to be a safe limit
for BVO in beverages—15 parts per million. But some scientists say
that limit is based on thin data that is several decades old and
should be revised.24,25
Toxicity testing has changed significantly over the past few
decades. It is now possible to observe neurodevelopmental, hormonal,
and reproductive changes across multiple generations of laboratory
animals, not possible decades ago.
Why Ditching Soda Should Be a Crucial Step in Your Health Plan
There are many reasons to banish soda from your diet, beyond BVO.
Soda and other sweetened commercial beverages have essentially no
nutritional benefits, but are loaded with other chemical additives
and high amounts of refined
sugar, typically in the form of high fructose corn syrup—or even
worse,
artificial sweeteners. The average 12-ounce can of soda contains
40 grams of sugar, at least half of which is fructose, so one can of
soda alone exceeds your daily recommended allotment of fructose (15
grams/day) if you're insulin resistant, which about 80 percent of
Americans are.
Excess sugar has been unequivocally linked to
diabetes,
cardiovascular disease, liver disease, and many other serious health
problems, so the less sugar you consume, the better.
In order to break free, you may need to address the emotional
component of your food cravings using tools such as
Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT).
You can even tap along with Julie in the guided EFT video above. Be
sure to check out our
Turbo Tapping article, which is an extremely effective and
simple tool to squelch your soda addiction quickly and painlessly.
The most effective way to eliminate sugar cravings for good is to
teach your body to
use fat for fuel. Ditching carbs and adding healthy fat is a key
component of this, which I discuss in my optimized nutrition plan.
Intermittent fasting can also help your body make the transition
from burning sugar to burning fat as its primary source of fuel.
As for beverages, remember that nothing beats pure water when it
comes to serving your body's needs for fluids. If you really feel
the urge for a carbonated beverage, try sparkling mineral water with
a squirt of lime or lemon juice, or sweetened with stevia or Luo
Han, both of which are safe natural sweeteners. If you struggle with
high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes or extra weight,
then you have insulin sensitivity issues and would likely benefit
from avoiding ALL sweeteners.
Sweetened beverages, whether sweetened by fructose, another form
of sugar, or artificial sweeteners, are among the worst culprits in
the fight against obesity and related health problems. Ditching ALL
of these types of beverages can go a long way toward reducing your
risk for chronic health problems and weight gain, not to mention
your exposure to potentially dangerous chemical additives like BVO.
What Are GMOs?
From April 19th through April 25th we launch GMO Awareness Week.
We set aside an entire week dedicated to providing you with
information on GMOs and labeling initiatives.
GMOs are a product of genetic engineering, meaning their genetic
makeup has been altered to induce a variety of “unique” traits to
crops, such as making them drought-resistant or giving them “more
nutrients.” GMO proponents claim that genetic engineering is “safe
and beneficial,” and that it advances the agricultural industry.
They also say that GMOs help ensure the global food supply and
sustainability. But is there any truth to these claims? I believe
not. For years, I've stated the belief that GMOs pose one of the
greatest threats to life on the planet. Genetic engineering is NOT
the safe and beneficial technology that it is touted to be.
Help Support GMO Labeling
The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA)—Monsanto’s Evil
Twin—is pulling out all the stops to keep you in the dark about
what’s in your food. For nearly two decades, Monsanto and corporate
agribusiness have exercised near-dictatorial control over American
agriculture. For example, Monsanto has made many claims that
glyphosate in Roundup is harmless to animals and humans. However,
recently the World Health Organization (WHO) had their research team
test glyphosate and have labeled it a probable carcinogen.
Public opinion around the biotech industry's contamination of our
food supply and destruction of our environment has reached the
tipping point. We're fighting back. That's why I was the first to
push for GMO labeling. I donated a significant sum to the first
ballot initiative in California in 2012, which inspired others to
donate to the campaign as well. We technically "lost the vote, but
we are winning the war, as these labeling initiatives have raised a
considerable amount of public awareness.
The insanity has gone far enough, which is why I encourage you to
boycott every single product owned by members of the GMA, including
natural and organic brands. More than 80 percent of our support
comes from individual consumers like you, who understand that real
change comes from the grassroots.
Thankfully, we have organizations like the Organic Consumers
Association (OCA) to fight back against these junk food
manufacturers, pesticide producers, and corporate giants.
Together, Let's Help OCA Get The Funding They Deserve
Let’s Help OCA get the funding it deserves. I have found very few
organizations who are as effective and efficient as OCA. It’s a
public interest organization dedicated to promoting health justice
and sustainability. A central focus of the OCA is building a
healthy, equitable, and sustainable system of food production and
consumption. That's why I'm proud to announce I will be matching
donations up to $250,000 this week.
Please make a donation to help OCA fight for GMO labeling.
Copyright 1997- 2015 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved.