Food additives are hardly new: they have been with us for thousands of years, probably starting with the discovery that salted meat lasted longer. They are not likely to go away, since Americans depend on an ever-wider variety of processed convenience foods that require additives. Food additives are further entrenched by an entire industry of food additive manufacturers, lobbyists and governmental agencies that have been built around them. Some of these substances purportedly offer health benefits, but most additives are used solely to make foods more attractive, more shelf stable, and palatable to consumers.

In the past 50 years, food additives have been extensively studied by additive manufacturers, universities and independent research organizations. Food additives regulation has been done primarily by the FDA. In that time, there have been several pivotal regulations enacted and studies conducted regarding food additives.

1958 & 1960 – Legislation in 1958 and 1960 required manufacturers to prove the safety of any new additive; before that, the burden was on the government to prove the health danger of a substance. We strongly believe the testing of new additives by the additive manufacturers to be self-serving. We would wholeheartedly endorse the use of an independent, third-party research organization with no stake in this industry or its regulation.

The 1960 Color Additives Amendment brought all colors, natural and synthetic, under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Color additives may not be used to deceive consumers or to conceal blemishes or inferiorities in food products. Colors used in foods, drugs, and cosmetics must be approved by the FDA before they can be marketed.

The Food Additives Amendment and the Color Additives Amendments include the Delaney Clause – the most restrictive provision of the 1958 law, which prohibits the approval of an additive "if it is found to induce cancer when ingested by" people or animals, or "if it is found, after tests which are appropriate for the evaluation of the safety of food additives, to induce cancer in" people or animals. Any substance found to cause cancer is regulated under the general safety provisions of these laws, as well as by the Delaney Clause.

Food manufacturers argue against this rule on the grounds that in some cases the cancer risk is minuscule, or that may risk is outweighed by the benefits the additive may provide – as with nitrites and saccharin, weak carcinogens that are still on the market.

1973 – Benjamin Feingold M.D. presented extensive research to the American Medical Association linking food additives to learning and behavior disorders. His extensive research was based on over 1,200 cases and included over 3,000 different food additives. His pioneering work has been ridiculed and studies done to disprove his statements. However, in spite of these “negative Feingold studies” about 50% of those who have tried the Feingold diet (even subjects in published studies that went against Feingold’s Hypothesis) had significant decreases in symptoms of hyperactivity.

Interestingly, “negative study” researchers focused on only 10 food dyes versus the 3,000 food additives that Feingold had considered. In spite of several studies attempting to disprove Feingold’s “Food Additives Cause Hyperactivity” hypothesis, it became evident that food additives DO play a major role in the hyperactivity of children.

1990 – The Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA) was enacted.This law requires that all packaged foods bear nutrition labeling and all health claims for foods are consistent with terms defined by the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

1996 – The Food Quality Protection Act establishes a health-based safety standard for pesticide residues in food. It also incorporates specific recommendations put forth in the 1993 National Academy of Sciences Report, Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children, which recognizes the special sensitivity and exposure of children to pesticides and requires and explicit determination that pesticide tolerances are safe for children.

The “Right to Know’ provision mandates that information provided by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding pesticides and foods be made available at point-of-purchase.