If it isn’t one thing, it’s another. When I read the first announcement via MSN news, I dug a little further and it really burns my butt that big name companies can play with our lives all for the love of profit and sales. What about the agencies that are suppose to regulate them and be our eyes and ears out there? I mean really … who the hell are we suppose to trust? Years ago I learned Coke could remove rust from chrome and make an old copper penny look like new. I’m not a Coke or Pepsi lover and really glad I stayed away from it all these years. Here’s what different sources are saying.
Coke and Pepsi are making some changes to their formula to avoid having their cans slapped with a cancer warning label. The companies directed their suppliers to reduce the level of the chemical 4-methylimidazole, which is a component of the caramel coloring and can be found in trace amounts in the soda. The change comes following a California law that demands drinks with a certain level of carcinogens display a warning, and while scientists say there are no immediate health concerns associated with the product, the two companies are changing the way they make their coloring to comply. Fortunately, the drinks will still be packed with all the sugar and empty calories you can handle.
4-methylimidazole has been one of the listed ingredients of Coke and Pepsi for as long as most people can remember but, if the Center for Science in the Public Interest, or CSPI, has its way, caramel color will no longer be used to make colas.
Citing studies that link several types of cancer to a chemical in caramel coloring, the head of the CSPI says jeopardizing people's health simply to give colas their familiar brown hue is just not acceptable. "There are 310 million Americans and we're saying that about 15-thousand of us will develop cancer as a result of the caramel coloring," said Michael Jacobson, CSPI's executive director.
In response, the American Beverage Association issued a statement questioning the science of the studies cited by the CSPI. The statement reads, in part, "This is nothing more than CSPI scare tactics, and their claims are outrageous. CSPI fraudulently claims to be operating in the interest of the public's health when it is clear its only motivation is to scare the American people."
You be the judge and please decide/choose wisely what's best for you and your family.
