Making soft drinks a little safer takes only a little effort

Kicking and screaming.

That pretty much describes the way the beverage industry reacted to a new law designed to reduce cancer risk in California.

In 2011, the state added a compound called 4-MEI to its list of known carcinogens. This move requires manufacturers to post a cancer-warning label on products that contain certain levels of the compound.

That includes soft drinks like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and any other brand that contains caramel coloring made with 4-MEI.

As you can imagine, no soft drink maker wants to put the word “cancer” on a product. So to dodge the required warning, the industry reduced 4-MEI levels used in the caramel coloring formula.

The American Beverage Association called the cancer claims “outrageous.”

A Coca-Cola spokesperson described the claims as “erroneous allegations.”

The CEO of the largest caramel color supplier told NPR that caramel coloring is “safe and harmless.”

Whatever caramel coloring’s true cancer danger may be, it’s important to keep two more health issues in mind. Research links caramel coloring to insulin resistance and inflammation in animals.

That doesn’t prove that it will do the same thing in humans, but millions of kids drink this stuff. So even if the claims are outrageous or erroneous, why not shoot for even safer and more harmless?

Sources:

“Coca-Cola Modifies Caramel Color to Avoid Cancer Warning Label” Allison Aubrey, NPR, 3/7/12, npr.org