Persellin, K. (2023, June 22). California bill to Ban Food Chemicals is a win for environmental justice. Environmental Working Group. https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/2023/06/california-bill-ban-food-chemicals-win-environmental-justice
California’s Assembly Bill 418 seeks to ban five chemicals commonly used in highly processed foods, which lower-income and colored communities have unequal exposure to; due to greater consumption of packaged foods containing these chemicals and lack of access to healthier alternatives. Attributable to long-term systemic racism and connected inequities, dollar stores and convenience marts containing food with these chemicals have traditionally been overly concentrated near or within low-income communities. These chemicals have also been linked to many health problems such as cancer, endocrine disruption and reproductive toxicity.
This article discusses an important environmental science and justice issue regarding a proposed ban on certain chemicals used in processed foods in California, which relates to environmental science due to its subject of environmental policy, and public equity and health. Overall, I fully support the bill’s aim to improve food safety equitably. Banning proven harmful additives from the food system, in addition to addressing root causes of unequal access to nutrition, could produce significant long-term benefits for human and environmental wellbeing.