October 13, 2012
Dear Citizen for Health,
Halloween is approaching, and with it the challenge to maintain a healthy diet for our children. It's a time of year when nearly every family relaxes its restrictions on sweets, just a little, to enable kids to enjoy trick-or-treating. In order to do so in a measured, informed fashion, parents need to know what goes into the things their children consume.
This Halloween season, do your part to prevent the Corn Refiners Association (CRA) from "tricking" you about the "treats" that contain their processed additive, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).
Don't Let "Big Corn" Do What They Want At The Expense Of Consumers
You know that one of the fundamental aspects of our mission is to ensure we all have access to the truthful, non-misleading information we need to make informed decisions about what we put into our bodies. Toward that end, we have been serving as the consumer watchdog responsible for telling fact from fiction as the CRA persists in its attempts to mislead the public about their artificial goop, HFCS.
We recently told you that the CRA is trying to hoodwink food and beverage manufacturers regarding consumers' real feelings about HFCS. The CRA's message: “96% of consumers aren't avoiding HFCS.”
We know, as do you, that there isn't a kernel of truth to this statement (sorry, we couldn't resist the pun). The more people learn about HFCS the less they want it in their food, which is why debunking the CRA's rhetoric is just one element of our campaign.
We're gathering signatures through our project Food Identify Theft for a petition to US Food and Beverage companies urging them to reject the CRA's denial of consumer reality and say "NO" to HFCS. It will be delivered to the CEOs of the nation's largest food and beverage makers, grocery retailers and chain restaurants, as well as to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Please sign the petition here.
Linda Bonvie, blogger for Food Identity Theft and long-time CFH ally, has started her own petition to food and beverage manufacturers - please take a moment to sign that here.
Lastly, even though the FDA has "accepted" (note they did not use the term "approved") the CRA's claim that fructose concentrations in the HFCS found in foods within a range of 42-55% are "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS), the FDA specifically refused to recognize the safety of products containing more than 55% fructose. Data show that HFCS concentrations in many products, such as soft drinks, can be much higher - as much as 65% - and one company markets an HFCS additive that is 90% fructose according to the Chicago Tribune.
Regardless of the specific negative health impacts of HFCS in general, such concentrations of fructose are NOT generally recognized as safe (GRAS) by the FDA and are, therefore, even more troubling than HFCS55. That's why we've submitted a petition to the FDA advocating for labels clearly stating the concentration of fructose in any food item containing HFCS. We're also asking the FDA to take action against food sellers who use unapproved formulas of HFCS.
Please take a few moments to post comments directly to the FDA in support of our petition. You can do so here. (Please mention that you are a health-conscious food consumer. Let them know that you care about what you eat and that you require accurate information to make good decisions about your diet. If you have any professional connections to the food industry - science, administration, legal, labor, ANY - let the agency know. The FDA offers tips on commenting here).
Our goal: 100,000 signatures/comments from these three petitions. We can do it - with your help.
Please forward this alert to all those you know who want to control what they put into their bodies, and forgive us for any duplication or cross-posting of information you've already received as we continue to send alerts on this in coming weeks. We are working to cast as broad a net as possible to secure our signature/comment goal.
As always, thank you for your participation.
The Citizens for Health Team
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