Diet Coke to drop additive in DNA damage fear

Diet Coke: Linked to hyperactivity and DNA damage

Coca-Cola is phasing out a controversial additive that has been linked to damage to DNA and hyperactivity in children.

Sodium benzoate, also known as E211, is used to stop fizzy drinks going mouldy.

Coca-Cola said it had begun withdrawing the additive from Diet Coke in January in response to consumer demand for more natural products.

By the end of the year no can or bottle will contain E211.

The company plans to remove it from its other products as soon as possible, but said that at present it had not found a satisfactory alternative to replace the additive in some soft drinks with a higher juice content, including Fanta, Dr Pepper, Sprite and Oasis. The chemical is not used in regular Coke.

While sodium benzoate occurs naturally in some fruits, it is used in greater strengths by the soft drinks industry.

But research by Peter Piper, a professor of molecular biology at Sheffield University, found that the additive could switch off parts of DNA, the genetic code in the cells of living creatures, that could be linked to cirrhosis of the liver and Parkinson's disease.

However, the Government-backed Committee on Mutagenicity has dismissed the research.

It argues that while sodium benzoate has been shown to be harmful to yeast cells, human cells are stronger.

Research by Southampton University found that sodium benzoate was one of seven additives - the six others are food colours - hat can lead to hyperactivity in children.

The Food Standards Agency has called for the six colours to be withdrawn from products but not sodium benzoate.

The Daily Mail has campaigned for a ban on harmful additives.

A Coca-Cola spokesman said: "We are continuously listening to our consumers' thoughts about ingredients."

The firm stressed that E211 was approved as an additive by many bodies around the world including the European Food Standards Agency.

Original here

Diet Coke to drop additive in DNA damage fear

Diet Coke: Linked to hyperactivity and DNA damage

Coca-Cola is phasing out a controversial additive that has been linked to damage to DNA and hyperactivity in children.

Sodium benzoate, also known as E211, is used to stop fizzy drinks going mouldy.

Coca-Cola said it had begun withdrawing the additive from Diet Coke in January in response to consumer demand for more natural products.

By the end of the year no can or bottle will contain E211.

The company plans to remove it from its other products as soon as possible, but said that at present it had not found a satisfactory alternative to replace the additive in some soft drinks with a higher juice content, including Fanta, Dr Pepper, Sprite and Oasis. The chemical is not used in regular Coke.

While sodium benzoate occurs naturally in some fruits, it is used in greater strengths by the soft drinks industry.

But research by Peter Piper, a professor of molecular biology at Sheffield University, found that the additive could switch off parts of DNA, the genetic code in the cells of living creatures, that could be linked to cirrhosis of the liver and Parkinson's disease.

However, the Government-backed Committee on Mutagenicity has dismissed the research.

It argues that while sodium benzoate has been shown to be harmful to yeast cells, human cells are stronger.

Research by Southampton University found that sodium benzoate was one of seven additives - the six others are food colours - hat can lead to hyperactivity in children.

The Food Standards Agency has called for the six colours to be withdrawn from products but not sodium benzoate.

The Daily Mail has campaigned for a ban on harmful additives.

A Coca-Cola spokesman said: "We are continuously listening to our consumers' thoughts about ingredients."

The firm stressed that E211 was approved as an additive by many bodies around the world including the European Food Standards Agency.

Original here

One in Eight U.S. Biology Teachers Teaches Creationism

Survey reveals that creationism and ID are hardly extinct in high schools

Too bad he can’t sub: Are those worry lines, Mr. Darwin? Photo by J. Cameron, 1869

The results of the first national survey of teachers about evolution in their classrooms are in. Darwin would quiver in his boots to learn that in this day and age, one in eight American biology teachers teach creationism and intelligent design as a sound alternative to his theory. In fact, 13 percent of the country’s teachers think they can run an excellent biology class without even mentioning Darwin or evolution. A few findings of note:

• The surveyed teachers spent an average of 13.7 classroom hours per year on general evolutionary processes in their biology classes.
• The majority spent no more than five hours a year on human evolution, and 17 percent did not cover it all.
• Only two percent of teachers did not teach about evolution, human or otherwise, at all.
• Thirteen percent of teachers thought an excellent biology course could exist without mentioning Darwin or evolutionary theory.
• Twenty-five percent of teachers said that they devoted at least one or two classroom hours to creationism or intelligent design. About half of this subset—one in eight biology teachers—taught it not in critique but as a “valid, scientific alternative to Darwinian explanations for the origin of species” and one that “many reputable scientists” endorse.
• Sixteen percent of all teachers surveyed believe personally in the “young earth” story of origins: that human beings were created by God in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years. About 48 percent of the general public believes this.

The survey, which was conducted by a team of Penn State political scientists last spring, assessed 939 randomly sampled U.S. biology teachers. It appears in PLoS Biology.

Original here