Hi Simon!
I happened to read that artificial colours on foods and drinks are linked to hyperactivity in children, that is when I remembered your post about some sweets that made your son hyperactive.
Slightly off topic (with regards to font size), but hope this information will be useful.
“EU plans warning labels on artificial colours”
Study suggests link with hyperactivity in children http://www.guardian....rink.foodsafetyFood and drinks containing any of six artificial colourings that may be linked to hyperactive behaviour in children will have to carry warnings, under a proposed EU deal.
The requirement would apply to imports as well as those made in the EU.
Hundreds of products containing the colourings will disappear from shops over the next year following the Food Standards Agency's (FSA) call for a voluntary ban on their use in food products.
The agency wants ministers to push for the colourings to be removed across Europe, believing a study from Southampton University showed a "direction of travel" between them and children's behaviour, despite the lack of evidence of a biological causal mechanism. EU safety advisers have begun a review of recommended daily intakes of additives.
The requirement for labelling, which would warn consumers that products "may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children", emerged in negotiations between MEPs, the European commission and the council of ministers over a new structure for authorising additives, flavourings and enzymes in food. It has to be approved by ministers later in the year and firms will be given time to comply, probably until mid-2010.
Major manufacturers such as Cadbury Trebor Basset, Nestlé UK and Unilever, as well as own-brand retailers such as Tesco, Asda and Marks & Spencer, say they either do not use the colourings or will have removed them by the end of the year, well in advance of Britain's voluntary ban, which starts at the end of 2009. Several big players began replacing them in response to consumer demand years ago, and some manufacturers of products for which new formulations were seen as technically difficult, including mushy peas, battenberg cake and turkish delight, have successfully made them without artificial colouring.
Coca-Cola, whose most famous product has never contained any of the colourings involved, says it has been moving towards the use of non-artificial colours, flavours and preservatives for some years.
The FSA believes it has much to do to ensure that small and medium-sized companies, including caterers and restaurants, adopt their ban, while it is unclear whether the EU labelling rules would apply to the catering industry. The E-numbers in question, tartrazine (E102), quinoline yellow (E104), sunset yellow (E110), carmoisine (E122), ponceau 4R (E124) and allura red (E129), already have to be listed on products; MEPs added the warning requirement after publication of the Southampton study and the FSA's action.
Anna Glayzer, coordinator of the Food Commission's Action on Additives campaign, said: "Why not simply ban these colours? ... We know they affect children and serve no useful purpose in our food."
The Food and Drink Federation said a voluntary ban was unnecessary, and questioned whether it was workable, as it did not apply to imports.
