http://www.canada.com/topics/bodyandhealth/story.html?id=00582795-89ed-4f82-9353-e952cd005248
An American consumer advocacy group is lobbying the government to ban the use of eight artificial food dyes approved for use in the U.S. and Canada which it claims are linked to hyperactivity and behaviour problems in some children.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest petitioned the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday to ban Yellow 5, Red 40, Blue 1, Blue 2, Green 3, Orange B, Red 3 and Yellow 6.
The group is also asking the FDA require a warning label on food with artificial colours as it considers the request to ban the dyes.
Health Canada said Tuesday that all food colours are assessed for safety must meet purity and quality specifications.
"Health Canada continues to monitor and evaluate any new studies on the safety of food additives," the federal agency said in a statement.
Health Canada scientists agreed there might be some children that are susceptible to certain food additives as highlighted in a recent British study.
"More research would be required to clearly demonstrate a link as there is currently no available data on how these additives could cause such effects," the agency said.
Canada is in the process of changing labelling requirements to require that any food colours be declared in the ingredient list by its common name.
The British Food Standards Agency and the European Union Environment Committee have begun lobbying governments for a system of bans and warning labels for artificial dyes.
Critics say scientists have been reporting a link between synthetic food dyes and erratic children's behaviour since the 1970s.
However, the FDA says on its website that "although the hypothesis was popularized in the 1970s, well-controlled studies conducted since then have produced no evidence that food additives cause hyperactivity or learning disabilities in children."
© Canwest News Service 2008
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