Are Americans the World’s Lab Rats?!

Food products made in the USA use ingredients that are banned or labeled as a possible concern in other countries. The same products that are made with toxins and chemicals here in the US are made in other countries with better ingredients, because those countries demand better.

“If it was dangerous for me, they wouldn’t sell it in the grocery stores!”

This was the thought process of my 12 year old daughter, and most of her friends. And my 16 year old son, and his friends. And, sadly, most of my adult friends.  It’s just not true!

How infuriating is it to learn that in the US there’s consistently a bunch of shady chemicals in the same foods that are made better elsewhere. What happened to “America First!”?  And being “the greatest nation in the world!”?? Why, when we have the capabilities to do better, do we not?

Why do we have pesticides that cause cancer and GMOs designed by cancer-causing pesticide companies embedded in our food? Don’t we have enough scientists who know better, ready to protect us in the USA the same way scientists from other countries do for their citizens?

You see, Europe takes a precautionary approach towards food additives that are potentially risky. They ban or at least add warning labels to these additives for their citizens. While the U.S., with all our freedom, takes the opposite approach. We do not remove additives from our food supply until they have been irrefutably proven dangerous. 

This means Americans are literally the lab rats.

I read an awakening article at foodbabe.com where Vani (aka the Food Babe) had friends overseas send her product labels for many products that they sell both overseas and here in the states. Across the board she discovered that companies who make the global products will use fresh foods in one nation, and chemicals in another (i.e. the U.S.).

Companies like Kraft-Heinz, Kellogg’s, PepsiCo, and Quaker sell safer, better products oversees while making inferior versions to sell to Americans.

Here are a few examples: 

American Doritos are covered in artificial dyes made from petroleum (Red #40, Blue #1, and Yellow #5) which can contaminated with carcinogens, such as benzidine. In the U.K. these dyes require a warning label that says “May Have an Adverse Effect on Activity and Attention in Children”, so instead they color Doritos with paprika extract and annatto. The Doritos in the U.K. are also non-GMO, while the American versions are made with GMO corn contaminated with glyphosate weed killer. Gross!