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Government
Ministers have agreed with the Food Standard Agency's (FSA) proposal
for a voluntary ban on six food colourings linked to an increased
risk of hyperactivity in children.The Action on Additives campaign
welcomes Ministerial acceptance of the FSA's proposal, intended to
remove these artificial colours by the end of 2009.
The FSA
proposal was made in April 2008 and followed the publication in
September 2007 of research known as the Southampton Study, that
linked the six colourings, along with one preservative, to increased
hyperactivity in children. Evidence was provided to the FSA board by
the Action on Additives campaign, which published details of over
1,000 products on sale in the UK between October 2007 and April 2008,
that contained one or more of the additives featured in the
Southampton Study.
Action on
Additives campaign co-ordinator Anna Glayzer said, "It is
good news that the FSA can now move forward with the voluntary ban.
We have been keeping an eye on the market since the FSA advice to
Ministers was agreed in April. Some companies have already removed
the colours from products, but many are dragging their feet. It is
essential that the FSA keeps up the pressure on companies to get rid
of these potentially harmful and utterly unnecessary ingredients."
The six food
colourings which, along with the preservative E211 Sodium Benzoate,
were shown by the Southampton Study to increase hyperactivity in children:
* E102 Tartrazine
* E104
Quinoline Yellow
* E110 Sunset Yellow
* E122 Carmoisine
* E124
Ponceau 4R
* E129 Allura Red
The Action on
Additives campaign is currently surveying the market again, with
details of products containing the colours being added to the website www.actiononadditives.com
as they are collected.
In July 2008
the The European Parliament voted in favour of labelling foods
containing the six food colours E110, E104, E122, E129, E102 and E124
with the words "may have an adverse effect on activity and
attention in children." This requirement is likely to
come into force around mid 2010.
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