Paint primer is how Consumer Reports describes titanium dioxide — the powdery chemical that whitens salad dressings, smooths chocolate and makes candy brighter.
New state legislation targets titanium dioxide and four other synthetic ingredients — brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben and red dye No. 3 — that have been linked to serious health problems, including hyperactivity, nervous system damage, reproductive issues, hormonal impairment and even cancer.
I recently stood with state Sen. Willie Preston and Rep. Anne Stava-Murray to introduce the Illinois Food Safety Act, which aims to ban these harmful chemicals in candy, soda and other ultraprocessed foods sold here.
Because of documented health concerns, the use of these chemicals in food is already prohibited in the 27 European Union nations while other countries, including Japan, Canada, Australia and even China, have begun banning additives. Last fall, California enacted a law, which takes effect in 2027, that bans four of the five additives.
As secretary of state, I oversee the state’s organ donor registry, one of the largest organ and tissue donation programs in the nation, which depends on healthy organs for individuals suffering from life-threatening diseases or injuries. Unfortunately, we’re seeing far too many chronically sick individuals in need of transplants these days and far fewer healthy organs available.
The goal of our legislation is to help ensure Illinoisans — and especially our children — eat safer and healthier food. What the bill doesn’t do is equally important: It doesn’t take food off the shelves, it doesn’t force companies to eliminate brands or products, and it doesn’t restrict the manufacturing or distribution of products with those ingredients, so long as they aren’t sold in Illinois.
Because regulations already vary from country to country, food manufacturers have nimbly adapted during the last several years, slightly modifying their recipes with safer ingredients resulting in cleaner labels. In addition, consumer demand for healthier, nonsynthesized ingredients has prompted a growing number of industry giants to rethink what goes into their products — replacing artificial additives, preservatives, colors and flavors with more natural ingredients — and encouraged major retailers to alter what is sold. Companies such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Dunkin’, Papa John’s, Trader Joe’s, Panera and many others have already eliminated many additives from their products, which has helped build loyalty and consumer confidence.
Nevertheless, misinformation and fearmongering among the corporate holdouts continue to spread. They shout that our proposal bans Skittles (it doesn’t) and that it will cost jobs (it won’t). Skittles is just one example of how an iconic brand has remained on the shelf in other countries that have eliminated these additives and how changes were successfully made without disrupting the workforce.
The holdouts also argue that the public should mind its own business and leave it up to the federal government — specifically, the Food and Drug Administration — to determine the safety of chemicals that flow into our food supply.
That would be great — if the FDA did its job. The fact is that Americans today are consuming foods with thousands of added flavors, preservatives and other ingredients in ultraprocessed foods that have never been studied by the FDA.
A 1958 loophole enables food manufacturers to deem additives to be “generally recognized as safe” — also known as GRAS — to bypass FDA oversight and get products quickly into stores. In other words, companies that produce processed food get to decide if a chemical is safe without having to inform the FDA, enabling them to prioritize their bottom lines over public health. From their perspective, what’s not to like?
All this adds up to a dangerous game that American families are forced to play. The food we eat and the beverages we drink likely contain one or more of 10,000 chemicals used as food additives. Not all of them are harmful, but many haven’t been evaluated by the FDA in decades — if ever. Some have been linked to health issues not only in adults but also to developmental, cognitive and other health concerns in infants and children, whose brains and organs are still developing and are more vulnerable.
The FDA has been laser-focused on cracking down on food contaminated with toxic chemicals that can make us acutely ill with short-term illnesses such as food poisoning and viruses. Meanwhile, it has all but ignored ingredients found in ultraprocessed foods that are created in labs and contribute to chronic illnesses that develop over longer periods like obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. These chronic diseases are affecting more Americans than ever, resulting in lower life expectancy and contributing to skyrocketing health-related costs.
That’s why states must act — now.
In the 1970s, corporate fat cats clutched their pearls, crying, “Seat belts don’t save lives.” In the 1990s, they bellowed, “Smoking doesn’t cause cancer.” And today, they clamor, “Dangerous chemicals that have been banned in dozens of countries are just fine for our children to eat.”
Why do we have to wait for history to prove them wrong again?
Alexi Giannoulias is the Illinois secretary of state.
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