'Yellow' Journalism (of 2, 4-biphenyl aceto carbonyl kind!!)

Accuse me of 'Yellow' Journalism (of 2, 4-biphenyl aceto carbonyl kind!!)

Ganga Prasad G. Rao
http://myprofile.cos.com/gangar


Wow! or Yuck! That's the response, depending on whom you are with. I am talking food colors. You know, those difficult-to-pronounce chemicals that lend color to the topping or substrate they are added to? Sure you do! Whether juices, cola, tutti-fruity toppings on cake, brightly-colored candy, or colored Easter eggs, colours are a must.

Just the other day, I had the shivers (actually, numbness in my fingers) after hurrying home in 100+ temperatures and eating some 'pista ice-cream' (Of course, that might be weakness from walking too fast). Pista ice-creams must still be doped a livid green (lest consumers mistake it for strawberry ice-creams doped a bright pink or rose depending on manufacturer! Color blindness must be more common than I presumed!). As inexcusable as they are, food colors purport to enhance the visual image of the product. You mean there is something worse? Why, Yes! Time and again, I have noted the stupidity of juice tetrapacks containing color additives. Why in the world would anyone add color to juice that the consumer sips without even looking at? Would any marketing executive answer that? Perhaps I have turned woolly with age? Perhaps the color additive aids in digestion?? No? Hmm, Does it help India overcome the 'Hindu rate of GDP growth'?!!! Can I make a million by selling colored water (before anyone turns green with envy)? To top it all, and as if pesticides and insecticides are not enough, we must also be poisoned by waxy 'surface-enhancers' and colors on vegetables. I was stunned when my wife showed me the greeen-color from washing fresh peas obtained at the local vegetable shop. What next? A 'Low Low Price - Inorganic' section to complement the 'organic produce' section at your local produce shop?

Apparently, we haven't learned the lessons despite, literally, pouring millions of dollars in to research on cancers, endocrine disrupter and the like (Public health policy? Pray, what is it?). Isn't it strange that we abandon the rich colors of nature and cause cancers while seeking to re-invent them? The fact that colors have been classified in to I, II, or III permitted classes does little to abate cancer risk among the public at large from consuming them. Doesn't it strike you as strange that a society so far ahead in knowledge of the causes and cures of diseases permits the use of carcinogenic artificial colors when vegetable-based natural colors can be manufactured at minimal incremental cost – a cost that is dwarfed by what we pay for treating cancers. I wonder what it takes to reverse industries that produce and market products that hurt public health (since campaigning on the basis of 'No More Carcinogenic Artificial Food Colors' is unlikely to win votes, especially in an inflationary economy!)?

Some yellow journalism of the Agent-Orange kind?