 This week, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit Washington-based watchdog group on nutrition and food safety, once again pushed the Food and Drug Administration to look at the chemicals – or “caramel coloring” – that turn cola brown. The CSPI’s petition asks the FDA to ban caramel colorings that are produced by an ammonia or ammonia-sulfite process and contain 2-methylimidazole (2-MI) and 4-methylimidazole (4-MI). The petition, originally filed on February 16, 2011, claims both 2-MI and 4-MI are “carcinogenic in animal studies.” The animal studies linking 4-MI to cancer in lab mice and rats prompted the state of California to officially list 4-MI as a carcinogen on January 7, 2011, under California’s Proposition 65, the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986. There have been no studies thus far on the chemicals’ risk to humans. The most recent call to arms from the CSPI comes after the watchdog group found a sampling of colas, including Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Pepsi and Diet Pepsi, surpassed the allotted 29 milligrams of 4-MI per day under Proposition 65. “When most people see ‘caramel coloring’ on food labels, they likely interpret that quite literally and assume the ingredient is similar to what you might get by gently melting sugar in a saucepan,” said CSPI Executive Director Michael F. Jacobson in a public statement. The statement continued, “The reality is quite different. Colorings made with the ammonia or ammonia-sulfite process contain carcinogens and don’t belong in the food supply. In any event, they shouldn’t be obscured by such an innocuous-sounding name as ‘caramel coloring.’" But reviews of the data by the FDA and American Beverage Association found the causation between caramel coloring and the risk of cancer to be insufficient. "This is nothing more than CSPI scare tactics, and their claims are outrageous. The science simply does not show that 4-MEI in foods or beverages is a threat to human health," responded the American Beverage Association in a news release. The beverage association also noted that, "In fact, findings of regulatory agencies worldwide, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, European Food Safety Authority and Health Canada, consider caramel coloring safe for use in foods and beverages. 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." The FDA lists caramel coloring as "generally recognized as safe" or “GRAS.” Regardless, members of the beverage association – including Coca-Cola – will modify the coloring so they can continue to sell their products in California without a cancer warning label. “Our member companies will still use caramel coloring in certain products, as always. The companies that make caramel coloring for our members' soft drinks are producing it to meet California's new standard,” the beverage association said in a separate statement. “Consumers will notice no difference in our products and have no reason at all for any health concerns.” In 2011 when the CSPI first filed the petition, former director of the Vanderbilt University Center in Molecular Toxicology and well-known toxicologist F. Peter Guengerich spoke to ABC News. “If you look at the study in terms of what the mice got, in terms of causing any effect, a human being would have to drink more than 1,000 sodas a day,” he said. Today, his opinion remains the same. Guengerich said in a statement this week, “The amounts of 4-MI consumed in beverages (and food) is extremely low compared to the high, long-term levels given the mice and rats, and extrapolation of either any harmful or beneficial results from these rodent models to humans at this time is not scientifically valid.” |
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So predictable
8 Hours in San Francisco
Check out http://gastrocuriosity.blogspot.com/ for daily, enlightening articles !
I drink nearly 8 cans of soda a day, i have had soda since i was 4, i don't have cancer.
What about diabetes?
Ooo, do you still have real teeth?
Nope. They're holograms.
I don't drink alcohol nor do I use any drugs (other than prescribed by my physician - one which caused hives). I'm going to drink my one coke per day. Something will get me eventually. If it is a coke, I die with a smile on my face. Screw the studies - they change daily. One day java is bad for us, the next day the so-called experts are telling us to "drink up!"
"Does cola cause cancer": Well you can be very sure that if it does, the evidence for that will either never be released or be attacked by big business scientific prostitutes. Have a Coke and a smile ... with your cancer.
Thanks and I will! I'm sure you do nothing bad for your body Voltairine.
I don't need to do anything bad with my body with so many self-important people that arrogantly believe that they have control over my body, like anti-abortionists.
its not the carmel coloring in Coke and Pepsi that's the problem – its the Coke and Pepsi itself that is the problem. They are nothing more then liquified sugar and diabetes through a straw.
It's the sugar. Cancer feeds on sugar.
Living causes cancer.
California should put a warning label on the sun .
They should put a warning label on the sun.
They should put a warning label on California.
Ha ha! Enter at your own risk!
I try to limit the amount of cola the rats at my house drink to one can a day. They don't like it, but I'm the boss and they're just rats.
I once ate bacon and then drank a coke. I felt like I died but then I came back through the power of the belch.
Yes!!!
Do not like it do not buy it. Simple as that
Who cares? what doesn't cause cancer these days? I swear half of the wires and devices I buy have cancer warnings on them. I mean by stepping out into the sun I'm risking myself to melanoma.
...pent-up stress...killer to the body. Sigh.
Sperm is a known carcinogen. It attacks and messes up the DNA of regular (non-egg) cells too.
The lack of any kind of basic understanding of science in almost all of the posts here is astonishing, and makes me fear even more for the future of our country, and of civilization in general. That, coupled with the fact that most of you cannot construct a complete sentence, or bother to check spelling or grammar, makes me want to puke (that is a term deliberately chosen so that some of you might be able to understand).
If you believe that sodas are bad for you, do not drink them. If you believe that they are benign, enjoy. Just don't force me to comply with your views. And please stop making up information about particular ingredients in Coca-Cola (or other soft drinks) which will kill you. It doesn't enhance your argument. Too much water, for instance, will kill you dead.
For those of you who equate a single incidence of disease with a particular (suspected) cause: you are lacking in any basic understanding of scientific principle, and any understanding of statistics and probability. The set of statements along the lines of:
1) My sister drank 5 Coca-colas per day for 20 years
2) My sister died of (insert disease here)
3) (Disease named) is caused by Coca-cola
is complete and total rubbish.
One can substitute trans-fats, or fluorides, or bacon, or any other substance, in this line of reasoning, for Coca-Cola, and the idiocy is not changed. This is the kind of simplistic and false reasoning foisted upon us by bureaucrats who deny scientific precepts, and who twist scientific and logical reasoning to fit a political agenda. If you think that CNN and the politicos in power can't twist science to fit their agenda, you are an unthinking moron.
I'll give you a parallel example. I haven't had a soda in at least 25 years, I don't smoke, and I don't eat fast food. I studiously avoid trans-fats, control my sodium intake, and limit my intake of saturated fats. I exercise regularly. I eat lots of dark green and leafy green vegetables, lots of whole grains, raw nuts, lentils, and beans; I limit my meat intake.
SO: I have (an unspecified type of) cancer. So does this negate all of the dietary research which indicates that my dietary practices should be healthy?
And for you complete and total morons who think that clinicians somehow don't know what cancer is, I feel for you when you are diagnosed. Knowing what the disease is, versus what causes it, or how to cure it, are different things.
You people all need to get (and appreciate) a life, and you need to learn how to think in a logical and reasonable manner. Surviving cancer, as I am doing, is a process. It is NOT a magic bullet provided by ObamaCare. It is a result of a reasoned, scientific approach, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. It's sort of like being struck head-on in an automobile accident–sometimes you survive, and sometimes you don't. We still kill tens of thousands of people per year in the United States in those little incidents, but there is no psuedo-science applied there.
Learn to think. Otherwise, we are all doomed. I fear, from reading these comments, that it is too late.
Lighten up, bud. Have a coke and a smile.
Simply the best response post that has ever been published. Thank you. Maybe someday people will post like this more often and the world will have real conversations. I'm not holding my breath.
Your expecting way too much of people. I have been reading peoples responses to articles on CNN for years and the vast majority of comments are simplistic, myopic and just plain crazy. Most peoples opinions are very narrow and idiosyncratic.; their solutions are one dimensional and just plain stupid. Some are so skewed that they are actually funny.
Some are just straight up funny.
Agreed. Sometimes I read posts just for the pure entertainment.
Thanks Matt. "Why me? Why not?" I appreciated your humor with your knowledge. Best of luck with your treatment/LIFE.
Thank you! The cause and effect concept is way beyond your common layman. I keep trying to explain that if you eat chicken on Tuesday and contract the flu on Wednesday you did not necessarily contract the flu from your chicken.
People are to stupid tp know what's best for them. The in the tank with Obama Media & Obama admin. is pushing this crap on the public. Everybaody should make 2/9/12 QTR POUNDER FRIES & COKE DAY
It's one thing to knowningly choose to put something like that in your body. It's another one altogether to find out that they are using something most people would consider unacceptable on the label of a FOOD ITEM.
In case you don't remember from school, Ammonia is generally considered a dangerous chemical, I'm wondering how many people would look at a label that says "Trace amounts of amonia sulfate present from processing" and actually buy it?
This is similar to saying that there are trace amounts of sodium and chlorine in your foods (which are also dangerous chemicals) instead of listing salt (NaCl) on the food label. It's scare tactics, pure and simple.
Sodium may be poisonous,and Chlorine may be poisonous, but Sodium Choride (Salt) is not poisonous. So trace amounts of Sodium (Na) or Chlorine (Cl) would be bad, but NaCl is not harmful at all. So I don't get your point?
Okay..chlorine and chloride are two very different chemicals. Anytime Hydrogen is added or deleted the chemical is CHANGED and what it will do to you is changed. They should list the caramel coloring as what it really is and let each person decide if they want to drink a derivative of ammonia.
David, ask anyone with high blood pressure is salt (NaCl) is harmful or not to their heath.
Who cares about the questionable danger of caramel coloring. I rarely drink soda pop, but because of a much simpler reason: Tons of sugar. I won't drink diet pop because it tastes terrible - all of it. Real soda pop with real sugar is delicious, and I lost 20 pounds in the first several weeks after I stopped drinking it daily. I tell you, soda pop is a self-inflicted wound on American culture. It is at least half of the reason we have an obesity problem. Stop listening to advertising and hype. Drink water, feel good, and get your entertainment from something other than your taste buds. Join the water generation.
Here here!
Every living breathing person has the potential to develope cancer. Cancer is nothing more than a group of cells that go haywire and start to grow at an abnormally fast pace. That is cancer. Our cells are constantly growing...multiplying. At any time, a cell can mutate.....and boom.....cancer has arrived. So, use your common sense. Cig smoking also causes COPD...which is just as bad as cancer. If you dont believe me, hold your nose closed, put your hand over your mouth and trying taking a deep breath. That is what COPD feels like.
Since cancer is essentially unmitigated growth of cells, we have to and should wonder what the residual growth hormones in plant and foods that we eat ultimately does to us–cancer has increased exponentially since the advent of gene splicing and bioengineering of the late 1970s.
I don't drink coke, pepsi or any of them. It just seems like common sense to me that they're bad for you. They can do all the tests they want but I'm not about to change my mind either way..
Also, keep in mind that there are MANY things that may show no signs of causing cancer until you test it when it's mixed with something else like alcohol, or cigarette smoke and then suddenly it becomes very cancer causing.. More so then alcohol or cigarettes on their own.
Haha, can we not do anything these days without it killing us? I mean really. "Oh, darling don't eat that delicious brownie mix off of the bowl! You'll get E. Coli !!"
Jack & what? I like my Jack and Coke. The Jack will kill the harmful additives. But when I want "a little" I want my Jack straight up!
Remember when the tobacco companies claimed for years that nicotine wasn't harmful...yeah...how's that workin' out.? "Big Agra" like "Big Tobacco" will thow millions at the FDA and come up with the same arguments (read "But reviews of the data by the FDA and American Beverage Association found the causation between caramel coloring and the risk of cancer to be insufficient") OF COURSE THEY DID IT IS THEIR JOB TO FIND THIS. Don't believe their hype any more than you would believe the tobacco companies. Just drink water and seltzer water and flavor with lemon, etc., it tastes far better anyway.
Jack & what? I like my Jack and Coke. The Jack will kill the harmful additives. But when I want mucha sexo I want my Jack straight up!
"When most people see ‘caramel coloring’ on food labels, they likely interpret that quite literally and assume the ingredient is similar to what you might get by gently melting sugar in a saucepan,” said CSPI Executive Director Michael F. Jacobson in a public statement.
No... I don't assume that at all. I think most people that bother to read ingredient labels have been hip to food company's "word crafting" for some time. But thanks for assumming that I'm stupid.
Thank God for stricter laws in California. Lots of things in sodas are bad for you. The sugar is bad for your teeth and is extremely bad if you are diabetic or pre-diabetic. Aspartame is a terrible chemical with a strong acid that hurts your stomach. I now drink water, from the tap, bottled, or fancy Perrier, and drink soda very rarely. Probably much better off for it.
Yup. While you're at it, Applebee's is going to get you a free dinner if you forward this to 1,000 people in the next 3.8 seconds. Hurry!
Well, uh, Diet Coke has no sugar. Aspartame is a harmless chemical and is not the least bit acidic. Thanks for your comment.
Aspartame is a harmless chemical???
Aspartame causes cancer.
Nope. Zero data linking aspartame to cancer. And this has been thoroughly tested.
Slurm!
If I wanted to drink alien slug goo, I would drink Mountain Dew. Buzz cola is superior!
Has anyone ever investigated whether laboratory mice and rats are born with cancer? Or perhaps that living in a laboratory causes cancer. Or maybebeing exposed to lab researchers causes cancer? I'm just curious.
For the test on the mice to be valid, they would have divided the mice into two basic groups: one that was given the chemical, the other that was given none of the chemical, and then comparing the difference in cancer rates. If living in the laboratory is the cause of the cancer in the mice, then there would be no difference in the cancerous rate among the two groups. If the rate of cancer in one group is higher than the other, then there is a plausible link between the chemical and cancer rates – in mice, under those specific circumstances.
I'm pretty sure they are comparing mice who got the compound versus those who did not receive the compound, all of whom were living in labs and exposed to researchers. So maybe 1 in 1000 mice got cancer without the compound and 3 in 1000 got it with the compound. What caused the 1 mouse to get cancer apart from the compound, hey, it could be the lab or the researchers, but that doesn't change the comparison, since both groups were in that same environment.
everything causes cancer. take your choice.
I've been drinking 5-6 cans of Coca cola evry day for the last 40 years and i do not have cancer yet!!! My teeth are all rotted out, but I don't have cancer!!
Since LIFE seems to cause cancer, I have two choices: eat and drink whatever I want in moderation OR I can crawl under the bed and curl up into a ball.
I'm okay with the latter as long as I can take my diet Pepsi with me.
So why can't the cola companies use real caramel coloring instead of a chemically altered one? Even if the study is flawed why not change to please the consumer...why will buy more as a result? They must think it would show culpability.
But BPA and phtalates have been quietly remove from baby bottle plastic even though the manufacturers claim that the research proves nothing...yet they did it anyway.
It would most likely change the flavor or the "bite" of the cola.
Well, the stuff made from sugar wouldn't work in diet colas. And I suspect it is more expensive to make than this synthesized stuff.
They are changing to something different (although maybe not "natural"), so that the CA label doesn't have to say that Cola causes cancer.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest is a completely bogus, lying, organization that should not be taken seriously by anybody. They are 100% responsible for the switch from healthy cooking oils, like coconut oil, to the trans fatty oils that we know know are about the worst things people can consume.
This organization has no credibility whatsoever every and anyone who listens to them is a fool.
Still do you really need that coca cola?
Ron, no I do not need coca cola. But woe be unto anyone who confiscates my diet Pepsi which I drink from the bottle via a nipple . They will quickly learn that allowing me to have it is actually in the public interest...
I maybe drink 2 or 3 soda's a year. I know I do not need them and I did not need anyone to tell me it isn't a healthy choice, especially the losers at CSPI.
Coconut oil is awesome!
Seriously people let not get carried away.. life expectancy has gone up not down and there is a reason for that. Yes some of the food we eat and drink is not healthy for you but I would hardly call it deadly. Now not having food or liquids is deadly and we are lucky to have what we have as is.
You are incorrect, within the last decade, life expectancy in America has gone DOWN significantly it has gone up only in the survival rates of infants.
If they can modify for CA, why can't they simply modify everywhere? Seems a no-brainer. I've switched to tea and coffee anyway for the most part.
Tea and coffee probably cause cancer too, don't worry. What doesn't cause cancer these days?
Turned 60 a week ago. Been drinking Coke since I was a small child. I was sick a lot as a child and Coke helps calm the stomach and keeps fluids in the body. If it was going to cause cancer then I should have developed some a long time ago. I
That's the same argument a lot of smokers used. "I've been smoking all my life and I don't have cancer!" The point is that certain chemicals increase your chance of getting cancer. It doesn't necessarily mean you WILL get cancer. It also doesn't mean you still can't get cancer sometime soon even after all this time in your case.
This is the worst kind of testimonial. "I've been doing it for years and nothing has happened to me, therefore it can't be true." I rode in my parents car without a seat belt and I am still alive, so I guess seat belts are not necessary.
Not to mention the High Fructose Corn Syrup is derived from BT corn, a genetically modified crop that is bred with insectide inside the actual food. Can't wash that off.
Sorry, but Coke is the nector of the Gods. I love it, and I won't stop drinking it. I know it's horrible for me, and I don't care. If it DID cause cancer? I'd have been dead years ago...
Hear ya . . .
"nectar"
Now THAT is some real science for you! I did X and Y didn't happen, therefore there is no correlation between X and Y!
On a less sarcastic note, I find no issue with anything a company wants to put in their sodas. If people want to drink their sugar syrup chemical mixture, they can reap whatever consequences may or may not follow. Though I never made a conscious effort to kick the softdrink habit, I'm quite happy to have not touched the stuff for the past 8 years.
"The science simply does not show that 4-MEI in foods or beverages is a threat to human health,"
Then why don't you list it that way as one of the ingredients?
exactly
For the same reason you list water rather than Dihydronium monoxide.
Even though it's not food the FDA should act in our interests. The problem is that making and selling cola makes a lot of money so forget protecting the public. With this much money involved it's game over.
Maybe people should take responsibility for their own health rather than someone else telling them what they can and can't intake
there is no way we, as lay people, can know or understand all the chemicals and additives that big corps put in our food. If you knew what what was in your food, if America knew what was in their food, there would be riots in the streets. The food companies are relying on our ignorance and laziness to not find out how they are slowly poisoning us for profit. Watch Food Inc, a movie, that will tell you what you are eating and the price you and I are REALLY paying for the food we eat.
Soylent Green is people.
Is there one case of cancer from cola? I think not.
And just how would YOU know if there were?
what an idiot.
Or idiot savant. How exactly would you know that cause of cancer was cola? I'm pretty sure that when the pathologist is looking under the microscope, the cancer cells don't have Diet Coke logos on them.
Many people asked the same question of cigarettes in decades past...
Why do we have ammonia in our food? Ammonia is not food.
Ammonia occurs naturally in many foods. It can be so prevalent in brie cheese that the scent is quite noticeable, and is always present is significant amounts even when not so pungently obvious.
Just wish folks would investigate what is causing this unnatural rise of cancer.
talking/thinking about cancer causes cancer
It's quite possible that cancer itself ISN'T on the rise, but our advances in medical technology simply allow us to diagnose earlier and more accurately.
Whew! Refreshing, Drew. Thank you. That felt good.
Not only are our detection methods better now than in the past but people are now living much longer than before. Has anyone done an age-breakdown for cancer incidences? Are most of them occurring in older people? That would make sense to me, because if we prevent most natural diseases that would previously kill someone, they could live long enough to develop cancer.
Cancer is a man made disease. We have done autopsies on mummified bodies from centuries ago and practically no traces of cancer was to be found. Even childhood cancers were non existant. Lots of factors contribute to it. Carbon Monoxide from emmissions, food additives, and lifestyle.
Actually, that isn't true. There was a recent study that found cancer in a mummified body that was several thousands of years old that showed that cancer existed long ago. While it probably wasn't as prevalent as it is today with so many carcinogens around, it still existed.
When life expectancy was 40, people didn't die of cancer so much because other things killed them first. Oh, and cancer probably killed some of those people too, but they didn't know it at the time.
If your going to get cancer it's just going to happen. No food or anything else is going to change that.
Talk about ignorance. What do you think causes all this cancer in the first place. Cancer is sky rocketing.
As others have posted, it is very difficult to separate cause of cancer from detection of cancer. Our ability to detect cancer, through advanced technology, is sky rocketing. Causes are not necessarily. There is a lot of ignorance here.
Nvertheless, that statement that "if you're going to get cancer, you just will" is still ridiculous. For example, I don't think very many people are just "bound" to get lung cancer with the same liklihood, regardless of whether or not they smoke. Smoking causes cancer. Some behaviors do have OBVIOUS effects on your likelihood of getting cancer.
Awesome! I'm going to go out and start smoking four packs a day! Thanks for the tip.
I wonder then why so many scientists think that smoking 5 packs of cigarettes per day increases one's chances of developing lung cancer, given that cancer is simply destiny?
Add this to poisons like Aspartame that Rumsfeld helped push past the FDA and you have a spicy meatball!
Actually, this is not true. Aspartame is the most thoroughly tested food additive in the history of the FDA. From the scientific perspective, it's the one thing we know that doesn't cause cancer.
The strong acid in aspartame hurts the stomach.
Speak for yourself. I drink Diet Coke and Equal is my choice for a sugar substitute. No stomach problems at all.
Do you even know the pH of your stomach acid?
Worrying about aspartame causes excess acid in the stomach which can cause discomfort.
we all gonna die anyway
What is with all the NIHILISM? Why does our SPECIES have such an OVERBLOWN Death Wish and NO WILL To LIVE? How the He3 are we going to get to the STARS? It will Take US 1000 Years to Develop the Warp Theory and build the Giant Laser Near the sun to Heat a Iron-Nickel Asteroid and SPIN it into a Bubble ship for 40,000,000,000 Refugees. Don't you KNOW we have a DESTINY
One of the things that comes with intelligent life, comes the realization of one's own mortality.
Still, I choose not to smoke 20 cigarettes a day, becuase I'd rather live to 95 than 65....
I don't believe the ingredients in soda cause cancer, but all the acids in sodas accelerate acidosis, the "acidification" of our bodies. Supposedly cancers thrive in an acidic environment. So, although not causing cancer, sodas make it easier for cancer to get a foothold and deter our bodies' natural defense mechanisms. Acidosis also leads to osteoporosis as the body attempts to neutralize the excess acid in our body by using alkali minerals in our bones. Soda pop in general, diet or caffeinated or not, are simply a bad idea for our overall health. Better to avoid them altogether if possible.
stop making sense
A well thought out comment. Thanks for posting it.
You can't take my Mountain Dew away!
Your stomach acid is much more acidic than the soda
The problem is that there are no in vivo data to support this claim.
Everything that goes into your stomach becomes acidic.
Why not just use BURNT SUGAR to color the stuff?
By burnt sugar, did you mean caramelized ... oh ... wait ...
Sugar's too expensive.
Don't some burnt things have carcinogens? I don't honestly know about what happens when we burn sugar, but I am curious...
seriously, why color it at all? Just leave it the natural color (whatever that is...)
Crystal Pepsi – didn't work out so well.
Because people are stupid and they need to be fed lies. Next time you want to eat anything out of a package, take a look at the ingredients list – it's a chemistry project of colorings and preservatives. Not to be alarmist, but we would be well served in this country to return to a more local approach to food supply (take all the eggs out of one basket), a more natural approach to farming (reduce nitrogen introduction that's choking the waterways) and a more educated approach to what we stuff into our bodies. We might also look to Europe, who's cancer treatments are far in advance of our own.
When diet coke first came out, I pounced on it and was drinking it like I do water today. Back then, nobody said boo about it. Years later, I mentioned to my mother that I was thinking about switching to Crystal Light. She freaked saying, "But that's all chemicals!!" I laaaaaaughed.
Local shopping? There are no more local grocery stores anymore. At least none that are reasonable priced.
I suspect that articles like these will facilitate the process by which consumers will be taxed for every single calorie they purchase. M&M Mars is already going to stop producing larger sized candy bars, limiting them to 250 calories.
Right now, what you buy and consume is voluntary. However, in a few years, when cash becomes obsolete, your purchases will be monitored and regulated. This will be tied to the use of electronic medical records, so if you weigh too much, you will limited in how many calories you can purchase. Don't you worry, though, because this is being done "to help you" and to protect the new health care system designed to help all Americans!
Imagine going to a box store, scanning your method of payment, and some booger-picking Wal-Mart goon telling you, "You can't buy that candy, because the system says here that you have exceded your monthly caloric intake."
Have a nice day!
Betcha they'll still charge the same (or just about the same) for the smaller candy bars. Everybody does it. They keep the price the same but start reducing the amount of product you're buying. When's the last time you bought an actual half-gallon of ice cream? They may say it's for health reasons. No – they're just looking for an excuse to reduce the amount of candy in the package and increase their profits.
Somebody's been reading a little too much science fiction.
Steven, if that were true cigarettes would be working towards being banned completely.
I gave up smoking, drink only a little, stopped using butter, cream and cheese on my lean burgers without mayonnaise. I am NOT giving up my Diet Coca Cola.
That diet coke is probably worse for you than butter and cream. You're just drinking a bottle of chemicals.. what harm could come from that?
Ryan, you dolt, EVERYTHING is a chemical. Water is a chemical. Air is a chemical.
Yes, almost everything IS a chemical. Water, however, is a naturally occurring substance that we need to survive. Diet Coke, etc are NOT natural and are known to be horribly bad for humans. That is ok with you, though. Be stupid, keep drinking the poisons they feed you!
I'm with you. Going out with Turkey burger and a diet coke. Buns fried in 'I Can't Believe It's Not Butter'. And sweet potato fries -baked. pffffft on Cali.
Watch out for aspartame in that diet Coke, very bad for you.
You just keep drinking that koolaid. Thaaaaaat's a good little sheeple.
"The science simply does not show that 4-MEI in foods or beverages is a threat to human health." Aren't these the same sort of people who said; "Nicotine in cigarettes is not harmful to human life and is certainly not a cause for cancer."?
HFCS got its name changed by the cola billionaires and now once this gets people angry, they will just change its name to something else and keep on poisoning the consumer... and people are stupid enough to drink this stuff by the gallon daily. To quote a phrase heard once "sick, sad world!"
If you don't like it, you don't have to drink it. Everybody knows that cola is bad for you. If people want to drink it, let them.
You remind me of those vegan people who look at me in disgust every time I mention eating any kind of meat or dairy product.
Who cares if research says coloring in cola only causes cancer in animals? It MUST cause cancer in humans, since the cancer is caused by a chemical, right? After all, catnip has been found to cause strange and unpredictable behavior in felines. Therefore, it must cause the same reactions in humans.
Come on zenfascists; correct me! The cola coloring and the hallucinogen in catnip are both chemicals, right? So by your logic they must affect both animals and humans in exactly the same way!
Seriously, take a 100-level Biology class, you clowns. You are no better than creationists with your "ideology before science" attitude.
Personally, I'll keep drinking Coca-Cola until the day I die...If people are not going to die my death, why do they want to live my life??? I love Coca-Cola and if it kills me, how does that affect anybody else??? Geezzzzzzzzz people, get a grip.... =o/
Hope someone has the common sense to make sure that you have a great big life insurance policy, with them as the beneficiary!
Well, I'd like to know if something is ammonia rather than sugar and I'd like them to change the ingredients to reflect what we think we are drinking not the other way around.
Exactly!!! Personally, I'll keep drinking Coca-Cola until the day I die...If people are not going to die my death, why do they want to live my life??? I love Coca-Cola and if it kills me, how does that affect anybody else??? Geezzzzzzzzz people, get a grip.... =o/
french fries and cola cause cancer plus beef patties have salmonella......... Come on America -you deserve a break today!
Keep eating fast food...it's darwinism.
Ok, I will keep eating it. And since my body and my descendants' bodies will have adapted to survive on artificial food, we therefore will survive the coming apocalypse much better than you silly vegans who depend on plants to live.
lol
The biggest hole in all of these arguments against this food or that – is the fact that seniors continue to live to 90+ years old, despite having terrible living conditions as children, eating unhealthy foods their entire lives, yet they live a long, productive life.
The real agenda is to control over the population. The liberals want total control of everything you do in your life and they will use every means possible to gain that control. They will use healthcare cost savings as the reasoning why the government should have control over what foods you put in your body. Once they gain control over your health, they use that power to control your actions as a way of 'cost savings' for the 'better good' of society as a whole. The left is on a crusade to control the population by attaching a governmental cost to every aspect of your life. Once a price tag is attached, they can use the cost to manipulate the public's perception of lifestyles and personal choice to their favor.
From regulation and banning of food, to government control over reproduction through 'reproductive health' initiatives, the bottom line is, it' all about control and power with 'good intentions', freedom and liberty be damned. Give and inch and they take a mile.
Actually, people are dying of diseases a lot sooner. Strokes, heart attacks, dimensia, alzhiemers...look at the issues are kids have, ADD, etc. We are poisoning ourselves more than ever all so corporate deities can make a buck. Btw, I'm a republican.
Our studies have shown that being a Republican causes cancer.
fokyeahitdoes!
Um, no, life expectancy is increasing. You have this backwards.
I hate when people have great arguments and then say liberals do this and conservatives do that. No one has any idea of what liberals or conservatives have in mind. If you're going to break it down just say why do white people keep doing this as that is very accurate as well.
Didn't read your comment after you started accusing it was off to a good start to.
Looks like a bit too much Huxley and Orwell along with that Fox News silliness and some conservative political narrative for dessert.
Do you really believe this stuff? Do you live in cave somewhere?
When the senior citizens were young, there were few or no artificial packaged foods with chemicals. They ate real eggs, real meat, real veggies, real fish, real butter. It was only when hydrogenated oils and packaged foods came along, that a lot of health problems began. These long-lived seniors may set the longevity records, and life-spans could actually decrease in their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, who are increasingly obese and eating very bad packaged foods and chemicals marketed and sold to them by greedy corporations.
Why would anyone want to drink chemical-laden, diluted sugar water (or, in the case of diet soda, chemicals dissolved in water)? I haven't had a soda in nearly 20 years.
Congratulations. What's your consumption of bourbon like?
Personally, I prefer single malt Scotch but have been known to temporally set my preferences aside and have other whiskeys.
If you really want your daily allotment of Carmel, try Dark Run.
It's because most Americans are spoil brats that have no control over their candy intake! whawha Let them drink and eat what they want. They'll die younger and the rest of us will be better off without them. The only down side is that the rest of us will end up paying for some of their medical bills when they get diabetes, ...
Here's some bad news: you're going to die. You may even die from diabetes, despite not eating candy and not drinking soda. As a society, we've become all too fond of Blaming the Victim when people become ill, looking for reasons why they're ill, and why it won't happen to us. This may make us feel smug, but it doesn't grant eternal life. Better to remember that one day we may be in need and not selfishly begrudge supporting a fellow human being.
Red M&M's anyone?
@There.Are.No.Gods! Instead of being a wise-a$$, I suggest that you re-read the following paragraph:
In 2011 when the CSPI first filed the petition, former director of the Vanderbilt University Center in Molecular Toxicology and well-known toxicologist F. Peter Guengerich spoke to ABC News.
“If you look at the study in terms of what the mice got, in terms of causing any effect, a human being would have to drink more than 1,000 sodas a day,” he said.
There's your scientist. And mine. I have no reason to believe that he's part of the cola industry's conspiracy to kill us.
I guess that makes some sense but it would also have to taken into account people with Genome/DNA that could be susceptible to carcinogenic triggers that could lead to cancer...After all if you kill your consumers you have no one to sell to unless that is the global plan of the wealthy....hmmmmm hard to say
Reading pointless articles kills brain cells. I cant tock now, my wips r lik wubber. oba da dee doe doe...........
does consuming a beverage mixed in a lab consisting of acid, sugars, and chemically derived flavors raise the risk of cancer?
Does a bullet to the head result in a brain injury?
Haha, best comment..
a bullet to the head can be carcinogenic
So when did you get shot? Did it hurt?
Hey man. nice shot.
Good shot mannnn
1. not necessarily
2. often
What doesn't cause cancer these days?
Exactly!!! Personally, I'll keep drinking Coca-Cola until the day I die...If people are not going to die my death, why do they want to live my life??? I love Coca-Cola and if it kills me, how does that affect anybody else??? Geezzzzzzzzz people, get a grip.... =o/
"If people are not going to die my death, why do they want to live my life?"
*thunderous applause*
How refreshingly profound, Angie. Don't be surprised if you see that statement around here again.
Holy crap I'm doomed if this is true ... I've been a 3 – 2 liter a day soda drinker for years ... and years ... ieeeeeeeeeeeeee! I don't smoke or drink booze though so I guess we all have our life risks ... but for me I have been wanting to quit soda for a more pressing reason and that is I have heard from several sources now that diet soda in particular inhibits ones ability to lose weight. I want to drop 20 pounds. So I'll use the cancer fear to help motivate me to stop soda ... who cares if it really is justifiable or not :)
Dont worry, you will get a heart attack before get cancer if you still drinking that much of cola
Diabetes is more likely than heart disease.
Absolutely zero data linking diet soda to heart attacks.
How about diet coke to IQ's?
Pepsi for the win!
ece404c0@ecn.purdue.edu
I would be more worried with aspartame, as it becomes formaldehyde in the brain. I am sure many did not know that...
You do realize that's more of the same unfounded garbage that you just read about. If you don't like soda don't drink it. Don't drag us normal people into your phobias. Why don't you go wash your hands a few more times.
Uh – no, it doesn't. Urban legend, that.
Well, the acid in aspartame hurts the stomach. I can attest to that.
jj, you can attest to it in your stomach only. Different people have different reactions to many things. I've been drinking diet colas for decades and haven't had the first problem with my stomach.
I'm going to quit eating and drinking all together
best comment ever!
Yeah, you can do that – just not for very long!
Long enough to not die of cancer!
That is one way to beat cancer.
No, it's not.
What a waste: they spent who knows how many millions testing mice and rats to 'prove' that if you drink 1,000 sodas a day, you MIGHT be at risk for cancer. Ridiculous. . . I love soda and although I did switch to the diet stuff for weight reasons, I have no plans to ever STOP drinking it because of such silly claims. I think most of us realize that while it's definitely not the healthiest thing to drink, it's certainly not as detrimental as they would have most of us believe. If you are worried about calories or what it might do to your teeth, then switch to diet soda and brush your teeth more often.
You are a moron. You do not have to drink 1000 sodas a day to develop cancer from this carcinogenic cocktail. When you are dying in a hospice of cancer from your poor lifestyle choices you will wish you had made some changes and had stopped drinking pure chemicals.
I am sure you would know better than some stupid scientist! Keep on with that idea, I am sure it will work out great for you!
Thank goodness for science, otherwise we would only have to deal with self-proclaimed know-it-alls that give terrible advice like yourself. Your solution is to switch over to another beverage loaded with artificial sweeteners that have their own set of health risks and to brush one's teeth more often. Do you understand that the acidic nature of soda is what weakens the enamel and brushing your teeth immediately after might actually contribute to enamel wear? Why am I even bothering...just stay in your bubble and let the scientists do the science thing.
Ignore these naysayers. They just finished their remedial reading comprehension class and didn't understand that content either.
Ok people, if you read the article, you would know it was the SCIENTIST in the article that said the 1000-sodas comment originally...
I don't drink soda or eat any process food anymore, and I feel a lot more alive.
What do you eat to stay healthy John?
I eat my own P o o, and drink my dogs W e e! It is healthy and nutritious!
Joey...you know you like p o o too.
And I think you guys are in cahoots!
LOL it's funny that the Cola industry has an opinion on whether cola causes cancer. It's like those 50 studies the tobacco industry always cites as evidence that smoking doesn't lead to cancer...in which case all 50 studies were sponsored, funded, conducted, and edited by the tobacco companies. Funny stuff.
Did anyone ever really think that cola drinks are a FOOD?
WTF!!! i drink coke all the time! they dont warn me that it causes cancer! if i get cancer i am going to sue the pants off them! if it causes cancer i dont want to drink it!
And, you had no idea the entirely man made, unnatural chemical drink (ever see those ingredients) was bad for your health until today?
Even if you get cancer, you'll never know if the soda caused it. Not an intelligent stance to take here.
I'll admit I drink alot of soda...I have had the soda craving for over 30 years and currently drink about 4-5 12oz cans a day. I have had no teeth issues, no kidney issues, no blood-sugar problems and no weight problems (I meet current Army heigh/weight standards)... maybe soda doesn't affect everyone the same way.
I drink a lot of soda as well and have a sixpack. The key is to simply burn more calories than you take it. The problem in unless you drink diet, you get a good 200 calories from a 12 oz bottle. That equates to half a meal alone.
***Hmmm not sure if Arnold Schwarzenegger or just regular douche named Arnold****
its totally addicting! we should sue them! i dont want to get cancer! and they dont warn you that it is addicting
Soda is only addicting because they have caffeine in them...
Call me when you get 50
newsflash: EVERYTHING causes cancer
EVERYTHING doesn't cause cancer…..maybe everything YOU eat.
lol, no... just everything in California... lol
Just one more reason to avoid drinking colas... But what about other stuff that contains caramel color? It's in all kinds of foods.
Did you read the entire article? It's just as harmless in other foods.
And on this news I will have a Jack&Coke..... and if I die two days earlier because of it so be it.
A man of my own tastes. *raises glass*
Amen to you both.
Yeah, these claims are almost like when people grab studies describing ill effects resulting from fructose dosages about 500 times the average sugar intake in humans and then make the mistake of not only extending this to HFCS (which is about 60-40 fructose to sucrose), but also extending the extremely high dosage to how much sweetener people actually eat. (I'm not saying HFCS is good – it sucks for your health about as much as sugar – but the extrapolation comparison was worth making)
Anything will be somewhat toxic at a high dosage, and believe it or some "natural" foods are extremely toxic if not prepared correctly. For example, eating just 4 uncooked and soaked kidney beans could make you pretty ill in just a couple of hours. But that doesn't mean that they're not fit for consumption – they just need to be boiled and they are good for consumption.
When looking at studies evaluating the toxicity of a food or additive, always keep in mind how much is being tested, how much is usually consumed by a normal person, and at what stage in processing the toxicity of a food/additive was tested.
No reason at all for any health concerns.
And yet millions die every year from cancers.
The mega-corps keep telling us everything is fine.
Hmmm....
.
Your body is made up of millions of cells. Each of those cells have DNA that is made up of trillions of bases. Cells have to replicate and divide quadrillions of times in your body without fail. A small mistake here and there in the right area and one cell can become cancer...More simply put, If I asked you to hand copy the same 5 page essay using only your last copy to produce the next for every minute of every hour of every day of the rest of your life, you'd make small mistakes that might eventually change the story.
This essay copying analogy is spot on. One of the few intelligent comments on this board.
Well, for one, obesity is a risk factor for cancer and that's on the rise.
That and we didn't really know what cancer was until less than 150 years ago and advanced technology that detects cancers early and easily is fairly recent, so our stats are pretty skewed.
Well put, also as we "screen" for cancer we use radiation. So as we have used more PET scans and mammography for breast cancer and the like we have increased radiation exposure in the general population. It's a risk/reward call that we all get to make.
Buuuuuuuuuurrrrrrppp... ahhhhhh.
Beer doesn't have artificial colors or flavors. Just saying.........
Do you know that for sure? They are not required to post all ingredients. That's why I make my own.
MNC are so big that they hide the contents of products they distribute to people that eventually harm an individual in long term..Why don't we have laws to stop selling food or drinks that are processed ,contains chemicals or that are not natural. Why people are left with very little choice for good and healthy food and so many options for junk food? Why junk food is cheap compared to good healthy food?
Organic, "Natural" food requires much more growing time, labor, fertilizer, pest removal, transport, and zoning issues since we would have to have farms in every town to produce the "fresh" items. And even if we did that we still wouldn't be able to maintain the population of the earth as the yields are simply too low (Malthusian Doom). Comparative advantages allow us to be able to get lettuce in the middle of winter.
A friend of mine had some issues with his kidneys and was told that he could not have any colas because of the ingredients. He could have other kinds of sodas, but the dark ones were not good. I really don't think any are probably good, but like anything, some may be "less" of a problem.
Same here as well. I had a buddy who was prone to kidney stones, and he was told the same thing. The only soda he can drink is stuff like Sierra Mist, Sprite, 7-Up, etc... I also have had a kidney stone and at the time I was drinking a LOT of Coke. The Dr. told me pretty much the same thing. I still enjoy a Coke occasionally, but nothing like I used to. Just like anything else in life, moderation is key.
Americans wring your hands over food colouring...while you wolf down you 3000 calorie meals.
Bingo. Over consumption of calories is a problem.
People should happily eat less calories, America throws a fit on high gas prices, yet money is gladly spent on excess calories. Eating the right amount leads to 1) Healthy Weight 2) Money Savings and...more money savings from less health expense.
Much better than strangling on overdone mutton and mashed up peas, say what old man?
drinking cola does not cause cancer; however, being fat and unhealthy from drinking too much of it does.
exactly, and that kills worst, the suffering is longer too
I can tell you from personal experience that drinking soda can cause life-long problems with acid reflux and GERT, I quit soda 7 years ago and I never felt better, but I still have acid reflux issues from it eating my stomach lining.
It's actually GERD, not GERT. How do you know it was the soda that caused it? Did you repeat your life in an identical fashion, this time omitting the soda, and not develop GERD?
It's the heaping amounts of sugar that's bad for you, not the coloring.
The sun causes cancer are we to stop going out into the day light. We can not live in fear our none of us will have a life.
Rob, it is not about not having a life, it is about having a long and healthy life. By comparing it to going into the sun is just clouding the issue – it is the same as comparing the issue of dying from smoking to not leaving your house because you may be hit by a bus. This article was written to open the eyes of the public to the possible problems surrounding the carmel colouring in colas. But the size of Coke and Pepsi, and the size of their lobbyists in America will force these types of stories to be hidden and squashed. Good on CNN for having the guts to put it up.
It's not about having a life it is about having a long and healthy life. So you add two more words than I did and now what? You can live a healthy and still not live a long one. Most who live to old age do so based on genetics. Besides that's one way to look on life. It's not the only way of looking. But a lot of things besides soda causes cancer. Was my point about the sun causing cancer. The idea of the article is to influence people to stop drinking it. Well you think Coca Cola cares? No take a look at their products just cause you don't drink coke our sprite. Does not mean you don't give them money. Or Pepsi for that matter.
Heck a soda company could have approved all this and funded this research.
The ignorance here is mind boggling. The sun does not case cancer. The sun helps to fight cancer. What causes skin cancer is a lack of nutrition. Not the fault of the sun itself. My God man all I see here is so much ignorance. Like the fellow who thinks that just because something is peer reviewed that it is infallible. Wake up man before it's too late. The establishment work to poison us on a regular basis as part of their eugenics obsession. The government is not their to serve you but to oppress you. The rise of cancer is an engineered phenomenon. Therefore of course they sell us things which cause cancer -it's part of their religion of control.
There are no good quality data linking nutrition to skin cancer.
It's not the caramel coloring people should be worried about in Cola, it's the ridiculous amounts of Phosphoric Acid found in Coke that is the real problem! Coca-Cola lobbyists tried to cover up the effects of Phosphoric Acid by using tests that were done on PHOSPHORUS (completely different then Phosphoric Acid) as a means of saying it's harmless, but the truth is it deteriorates bones and causes cancer!
Not to mention that Coca-Cola is flat out disgusting and only gets by on it's brand name! It's not worth getting cancer in your 50s over!
No, it doesn't 'get by'. Now to me, it's Pepsi that's disgusting. I can even tell Coke from Pepsi by the smell.
.
Everyone can tout how good liver is for you, but to me that nasty stuff even isn't food. Don't want to look at it, touch it, smell it, cook it, and heaven forbid I have to eat that $%^&. Yuck, yuck, yuck. Butterscotch and licorice isn't far behind liver either.
Actually, not everyone can. Liver is a fatty meat and not that good for you.
Truth is you don't quite have the whole story. Your body has a natural balance of phosphoric acid and calcium. When you increase the phosphoric acid level without adding calcium to your diet, your body takes calcium from your bones to balance out the extra phosphoric acid. The truth is the sugar will kill you long before the phosphoric acid will if you sit on your rear all day long like most Americans do....
As far as taste, like all foods, its subjective to your own personal taste. Name brand is not enough to carry any product. Coke is not your only choice at the store... I hate everything about salmon but yet they still sell it at the store. Go figure...
I'm a 59 – 60 year Coke drinker, never had cancer and my bones (according to the doctor who ran a test on them), were that of a 25 year old.
the tobacco industry at one time denied and hid the fact that nicotine is addictive.
Pretty sure life itself causes cancer.
Stop worrying how it ends and enjoy the trip.
Eventually we all WILL die of something. But that doesn't mean we should ignore high risk behaviors, like walking blindfolded on a freeway, or setting fire to our own clothes to keep warm, or drinking things we know will hasten our death...
And don't forget the study in 2008 by dyslexic scientists, showing that consuming lab rats with cancer caused diet soda.
More damned ignorance. Life does not cause cancer. Carcinogens in our produce & water causes cancer.
Carcinogens cause cancer? I wonder why more people don't know about this. But this is solid advice - cut down on water and produce to avoid cancer.
Ask the cheese board in Wisconson if cheese is bad for you.
I prefer to base my opinions on science rather than ideology, Ben. Let me guess, you also think artificial sweeteners cause cancer and that flouride in the water is a communist plot, right? In the end, science trumps all. If the research is peer-reviewed, done properly, and says it doesn't cause cancer in humans, then it doesn't cause cancer in humans.
That's the sad thing about people like you; when you're desperate to deny scientific truths that fly in the face of your beliefs, you eventually become desperate and say "Well, who FUNDED the study? HUH???" News flash, from someone who does research for a living: IT DOESN'T MATTER WHO FUNDS RESEARCH. If the research is done right and the papers that are submitted after are PEER REVIEWED (which they always are), then any errors or "tinkering" done by some middleman are nearly always uncovered by the dozens of scientists in dozens of countries who then repeat the experiments in their own labs. Unless you believe scientists all over the world are in the pocket of the corporations? Give me a break!
Fluoride was used in the Nazi concentration camps to make the prisoners docile & not want to resist.
Really? I thought it was the armed guards and the dogs and the electric fences. Thanks for clarifying that for me.
I think his point is, the coke people are going to, of course, deny anything could be wrong with their product even if something is wrong with it. I think you're reading WAAAYYY into this.
Also, I'd like to point your attention to the study that showed a link between autism and vaccines. Not sure if you heard of it, but it was done by a scientist who fudged the results to get the answer he wanted. Oh, and that isn't the only time that's happened. Nothing is truly without flaws.