Less Shiny But Safer Skittles? Mars Removes Chemical Targeted By RFK Jr.
Skittles will no longer be made with titanium dioxide, a chemical additive that brightens colors and makes candy look shiny, but that has raised health concerns. Europe has banned the ingredient and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has called it out as unhealthy.
Bloomberg:
Skittles Removes Titanium Dioxide, Additive Targeted By RFK Jr.
Mars Inc.’s Skittles candies are no longer being made with titanium dioxide, a chemical that whitens foods, brightens colors and makes candy appear shiny, the company confirmed to Bloomberg News. The additive was banned in the European Union in 2022 over concerns that nanoparticles of the substance might accumulate in the body and damage DNA. It has also come under scrutiny by the Department of Health and Human Services in recent months under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Shanker and Kubzansky, 5/27)
Stat:
Heated Tobacco Product Eyed Warily In Anti-Smoking Circles
Strolling past the sleek, blue-lit pop-up stores and lounges that began peppering the city of Austin, Texas, this spring, passersby might pause to wonder about what trendy new tech product goes by the name of “IQOS.” Perhaps a smartwatch or a set of noise-canceling wireless earbuds? The chicly futuristic branding of IQOS, a heated tobacco product owned by Philip Morris International, is one of several things worrying researchers and anti-tobacco advocates. (Todd, 5/28)
AP:
Get Ready For Several Years Of Killer Heat, Top Weather Forecasters Warn
Get ready for several years of even more record-breaking heat that pushes Earth to more deadly, fiery and uncomfortable extremes, two of the world’s top weather agencies forecast. There’s an 80% chance the world will break another annual temperature record in the next five years, and it’s even more probable that the world will again exceed the international temperature threshold set 10 years ago, according to a five-year forecast released Wednesday by the World Meteorological Organization and the U.K. Meteorological Office. (Borenstein, 5/28)
On mental health —
CBS News:
Her Children's ADHD Diagnosis Became The Catalyst For A Mother To Search For Her Own
Like most mothers, Denise Moss was worried about her son, Kyle. He had trouble concentrating in school and couldn't stay on task. She called him her "hummingbird," as he was in constant motion, but never quite getting anything done. Moss decided to seek help, as a self-described "later in life," stay-at-home mom, she wanted to give her boys the undivided attention she felt she didn't receive during her childhood. She took Kyle to a therapist; the diagnosis: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD — a neurodevelopmental disorder classified by symptoms including attention difficulty, hyperactivity, and impulsiveness. Soon after, her younger son, Blake, got a diagnosis. (Tabachnick, Hastey and Garrett, 5/27)
NPR:
Understanding, Treating And Managing Bipolar Disorder
Around 40 million people around the world have bipolar disorder, which involves cyclical swings between moods: from depression to mania. Kay Redfield Jamison is one of those people. She's also a professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and has written extensively about the topic, from medical textbooks to personal memoirs. In fact, Jamison penned one of the first memoirs ever written by a medical doctor living with bipolar, An Unquiet Mind. (Kwong, Carlson and Ramirez, 5/28)
Also —
The Washington Post:
5 Myths About Food Expiration Dates And Best-By Labels
Date labels are often unclear, inconsistent and, I think it’s fair to say, downright bewildering. ReFED, a nonprofit dedicated to food waste reduction, estimates that confusion over those dates and phrases leads U.S. consumers to throw away about 3 billion pounds of food annually, which equates to $7 billion in losses. ReFED maintains that nationally regulating date labels and educating consumers could take a significant bite out of the estimated one-third of food that goes to waste — with serious financial and environmental consequences — in the United States every year. (Jackson, 5/27)
