Harmful additives

needmoney

I am beginning to put a letter together to complain to the government about the harmful additives etc in food, sweets, drinks etc.

I know this may have been done before but I was just thinking if we all helped to put the letter together then each member and maybe household members as well all sent a copy off it may just have some effect.


what do you all think I have pasted the beginning below and I know there are far more educated people here than myself so feel free to add or criticise please.

Dear ???

I would like to know what plans you have for banning the harmful additives in foodstuffs in this country, particularly in products specifically aimed at children.

Lots of these additives, colourings, enhancers etc., have known harmful and potentially dangerous side effects.

Why should parents of young children have to waste their valuable busy time wading through lists of misleadingly named ingredients just to keep their children safe, having said that why should anyone of us have to do this.

needmoney

Bump,

Surely some of you are interested

Jay-Jay_4

I'm certainly in favour of people recognising what absolute crap goes into our food.

I think that Jamie Olivers recent actions have opened a lot of peoples eyes to the rubbish our kids are eating. Most drinks on the market contain Aspartame yet these drinks are marketed as 'No Added Sugar' so parents think that they're doing their kids a favour by buying them.

Maybe if there was a bit of publicity on the dangers of certain additives, especially those connected to ADHD and the like, there would be happier kids, parents and teachers.

I can't believe that people actually let their kids drink Sunny Delight

Edited to add: I would add to your letter actual references to studies and research just to add weight to your argument.

needmoney

Jay_Jay that's exactly the kind of thing I was meaning to point out the things that cause behaviour problems, here is alink if anyone's interested I will be adding more as I go


http://www.foodcomm.org.uk/additive_2002_full.htm

Queenie

needmoney - I think you have a great idea.

Jay-Jay wrote:

I can't believe that people actually let their kids drink Sunny Delight
.

I interviewed a young lad 5yrs ago, nice person - when he began work, he turned up looking quite ill! So ill in fact that I worried that he had liver problems - his skin was yellowing.

I asked if he was ok, mentioned his skin ... he laughed and explained he drank a lot of Sunny D and sometimes if he drank too much his skin went yellow but returns to *normal* if he stops for a day :eek: Best bit? His mum used to be a nurse (albeit, years before) and believed "orange juice is good" for him :wall:

aliasojo

This is a good idea. I remember reading that several other countries (can't remember which though) banned the colours used in Smarties as they were classed as carcinogenic (sp?), so their Smarties were pale.

After reading that, I was disgusted that our country didn't take the same stand. My kids only ever got Smarties when someone else gave them to them without my knowledge.

It stands to reason that less harmful additives means less health problems and less demand on Health Resources in the long term. I'm surprised our Government hasn't acted tbh.

Debt_Free_Chick

I suppose it depends on what you mean by harmful. I thought additives in foodstuffs were monitored by the Food Standards Agency.

If you are really concerned about additives, then don't buy junk. Surely, if you cook from scratch you avoid additives?

Jay-Jay_4

Debt_Free_Chick wrote:

I suppose it depends on what you mean by harmful. I thought additives in foodstuffs were monitored by the Food Standards Agency.

If you are really concerned about additives, then don't buy junk. Surely, if you cook from scratch you avoid additives?

I quite agree DFC but there are lots and lots of people who just don't know that the things they're eating and drinking are bad for them and their children.

I would be nice to think that everybody made an informed choice about what they were eating but unfortunately not everyone does. It's boils down to education but how do we get the entire population 'educated' about something like this?

Reading what goes into some childrens foods it's amazing yet we put our trust in the food companies that these additives, flavourings, preservatives, antioxidants and all the other crap that goes into them are fine for our children to eat.

Using Sunny Delight as an example again, it's marketed so that people think that it's some amazingingly healthy fruit juice that will help your children thrive. In reality it's an artificially thickened gloop containing all kinds of colourings, flavourings and preservatives which costs 3 times the price of a carton of fresh fruit juice. People obviously believe the hype and buy it for their kids without reading the labels, that's why we need some education about what are 'good' and 'bad' additives.

Sarahsaver

My son wet the bed when he had some cherryade - we usually have milk, water or very weak value squash. I left it a couple of days and tried it again - he wet the bed again and the only difference in his usual diet each time was the cherryade. I prefer to vote with my purse and buy things i know have no additives anyway.
The government are hand on hand with the food industry - money is the issue here, and the only way we can combat it is to take our money elsewhere - towards healthy unadulterated food.

elona

Well said Sarah :j

needmoney

Hiya DFC I cook most things from scratch and check labels etc. but additives have real names and numbers and in order to confuse us companies use both, sometimes referring to a substance by numbers and sometimes by name. This takes a lot of genning up to keep up.

There are lots of people who are now becoming wise to these things but I feel sorry for the parents who may not be quite educated enough to understand these things or like myself till lately simply do not know about them and more sorry for the kids who get behaviour problems and health problems from eating these things.

If you look at a list of these names and substances a lot of them say "banned in some countries"

I agree with aliasojo who said it must be costing the health service, they are quick enough to condemn smokers most of whom are adults or at least people of reading age and can choose for themselves, toddlers can’t.

Here’s another link for those who are interested

http://www.lactose.co.uk/milkallergy/foodadditives100.html

and another

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3459641.stm

and another

http://www.distanthealer.co.uk/enumbers.htm
I feel very strongly about being mislead by food manufacturers and by the experts etc. si I will probably get boring about this so those not interested please ignore and swear at me if you like.:D