Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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Is Food Coloring Safe? From the Editors of Environmental Magazine Dear EarthTalk: Ever since the red dye #2 scare in the 1970s I've been wary of using food colorings or buying food that appears to contain them. Are there natural and healthy food colorings? — Nancy McFarlane, Methuen, MA Many of us are still wary of food dyes because of reports about links between red dye #2 and cancer in the 1970s. While red dye #2 was subsequently banned from products sold in the United States, many health-conscious consumers continue to avoid foods with other artificial colors or dyes — even though the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) still considers them safe for human consumption. But a 2010 analysis of past research on links between food dyes and health by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) found compelling evidence that ingestion of artificial dyes can contribute to hyperactivity, restless- ness and attention problems in some children — particularly those with ADHD. "What's more, the studies suggested that removing dyes from those children's diet was a quarter to half as effective in reducing those symptoms as giving the kids Ritalin or other stimulants," reports Nancy Cordes, CBS News' Consumer Safety Correspondent. "In other words, certain kids with ADHD might not need drugs if the artificial dyes were removed from their diets." Several com- monly used artificial food dyes are suspected carcinogens as well. While it might be impossible to prevent your children from eating anything with artificial dye, you can do your part by shopping at Whole Foods or Trader Joe's — both chains have banned products that use artificial dyes and carry all- natural food coloring for home cooking and baking projects. One brand to look for is India Tree, which makes a line of food coloring derived from vegetable colorants. The company's "Nature's Colors Natural Decorating Colors" contain no corn syrup or synthetic dyes, and are highly recommended for coloring icing in rich jewel tones or soft pastels. Another company specializing in natural (as well as organic) food colors is Nature's Flavors, whose products are widely used commercially in ice cream, baked goods, frosting, dairy products, syrups, sauces, bev- erages and even hair colors. The company recently began to sell their products to consumers, as well, through retail stores. They use a variety of plant materials, including beets, turmeric root, annatto seeds, purple carrot, purple cabbage, gardenia flowers, hibiscus flowers and grape skin. "Our natural food colors are made from plants and con- tain powerful antioxidants, which help the body repair itself from the effects of oxidation," claims Nature's Flavors. "Using natural or organic food colors may actually help the brain and slow down the effects of aging." Another leading maker of all-natural food coloring is Chefmaster, whose products can be found at Whole Foods and other natural and high end food retailers, as well as on amazon.com and elsewhere online. CPSI would like the FDA to ban eight of the most com- mon artificial dyes, or at least affix a warning label to prod- ucts that contain them: "Warning: The artificial coloring in this food causes hyperactivity and behavioral problems in some children." In the meantime, concerned eaters should stick with products, stores and restaurants that use natural ingredients. CONTACTS: India Tree, www.indiatree.com; Nature's Flavors, www.na- turesflavors.com; CPSI's "Food Dyes: A Rainbow of Risks," www.cspinet.org/ new/pdf/food-dyes-rainbow-of-risks.pdf. EarthTalk® is written and edited by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss and is a registered trademark of E - The Environmental Magazine (www.emagazine.com). Send questions to: earthtalk@emagazine.com. Replacing Elections with Lotteries by D. G. MARTIN There has to be a better way. Some of us reached that conclusion after discussing the mess our Congressional and legislative governing systems have come to. Winston Churchill said that democracy is the worst form of government "except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." I wonder if he would agree today, after taking a look at the U.S. Congress dead- locked by political divisiveness and mean-spirited partisan competition that stifle almost every effort to deal with challenges crying out for practical responses. Instead of being free to work full-time with their colleagues on the nitty-gritty work of crafting legislation, our representatives are slaves to a system that requires them to spend most of their time on electoral politics and fundraising. Taxpayers pay them to be legislators. But keeping those jobs requires them to do something else altogether. The time spent raising money and the obligations that come with begging money from people and organizations that "want something" takes more than just time away from the job. It drains away the independent judgment of the legislator. So does the extreme loyalty to political parties, to the caucus and to the legisla- tive leadership. The demands to "stick together" handicap the prospects for work- ing on solutions that do not fit into the agenda of one of the political groups. Efforts to maintain control lead to ugly games of gerrymandering and pandering to voting groups. How could we find a system that frees our elective representatives from the ser- vitude of full-time fundraising, from the draining of energy and spirit that go with permanent campaigns and from the tribal commitments to political caucuses and parties? How could we free them from these things so they could spend full time working on legislation to make our state and nation better? Somebody asked, what about a lottery? Why not just select our representatives by lottery? That suggestion sounded like a joke. At first. What could be more antithetical to democracy than putting aside citizen partici- 16 UCW JANUARY 18-24, 2012 pation and simply choosing representatives by lot? But, after I thought about it a minute, some advantages were apparent. No need to raise money. No permanent campaigns. No automatic partisan divides on every question. And, with modern computer techniques, a legislature that could be com- posed of people that would closely reflect the population, geographically, ethni- cally, gender, age and otherwise. Of course, somebody said, "You would have a whole bunch of people who would have no idea what they were doing." Then, somebody else said, "Neither do most newly elected legislators!" Still, making important selections by chance is just not the way we do things in America, is it? One person quietly mentioned that we get our jury pools by random selection. The jury system is not perfect. But Americans have a pretty strong commitment to it. It works without the problems of partisan bickering and gamesmanship, fund- raising, or time-consuming political campaigns. All this may be true, but selecting representatives by lottery would be an unprec- edented violation of the democratic tradition that began in ancient Greece. Or would it? Actually, the selection of many major officers in Athens was by allotment or a random process. According to the New World Encyclopedia, "Election was seen as less democratic and open to corruption because it would favor the rich (who could buy votes) and the eloquent, whereas a lottery gave everyone an equal chance to participate and experience, in Aristotle's words, 'ruling and being ruled in turn.'" So, am I ready to lead an effort to replace elections with a lot- tery selection process? Not today. But check with me after Nov. 6. D.G. MARTIN, Columnist COMMENTS? editor@upandcomin- gweekly.com WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM