California bill could ban red dye No. 3 in popular candy

California could make history as the first state in the nation to ban commonly used chemicals used to make a number of popular candies from Skittles to M&Ms. A new state bill targets red dye number three and other additives that have been linked to a wide range of health concerns from certain cancers to hyperactivity in kids. CBSH Richard Allen talked with the bill's author as well as parents who are split on this proposed move, which Europe has already adopted. When the state legislator behind this new bill makes it clear that this is not about banning some of California's most popular candies, but instead targeting some of the most potentially dangerous chemicals used to make them here in the United States. I don't think it's a bad idea. Jessica Bethune has chosen not to give her two-year-old toddler any candy with dyes in it after seeing studies linking chemicals with developmental and behavioral issues, as well as cancer. She's supportive of this newly proposed state legislation which would ban these five common chemicals, including potassium bromate and red dye number three.

I mean, I don't think it's overreach because in Europe, if they have candy there, people can pick different candies. They can make stuff without dyes. I'm sure they have some of the same equivalents in Europe. I think that candy is candy and in moderation, anything's okay. But Maria Tussay, mom to a nine-year-old and a pediatric nurse says she definitely sees this move as overreach. I hate banning anything because it takes away our rights. We are not going to pull any items off the shelf.

I think there's a zero percent chance that we're going to ban skittles in the state of California. Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, who's proposed this new legislation, says there are safer alternatives to all of these chemicals, none of which are essential to the candy's formulas. What we want them to do is we want them to change their ingredients. We want them to make minor modifications to their recipes. And that's what you've seen in places like Europe. And as a result, kids and families are safer in the European Union than they are here in the United States of America. If you can make the candy without the toxicity, why not make the candy without the toxicity? If it costs the companies a little bit more money to protect the population inside the United States, why wouldn't they do that? This father says legislation shouldn't be necessary for the candy makers to act in good conscience.

Either way, as long as it protects my daughter from being able to have a piece of candy when she's able to have it and not actually be harmful to her, that'd be great. And state lawmakers will begin debating this new bill starting in early April.

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