Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, September 16, 2023

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Mountain View News Saturday, September 16, 2023 


CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE PASSES FIRST-
IN-THE-NATION BAN ON DANGEROUS 
FOOD ADDITIVES

 

Landmark Measure Would Prohibit the Use of Four Dangerous 
Chemicals Al-ready Banned in the European Union and 
Other Nations

 

SACRAMENTO, CA — Friday, the California State Legislature passed first-
of-its-kind legislation to prohibit the use of four dangerous chemicals in processed 
foods and drinks sold in California. Authored by Assemblymember 
Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino), Assembly Bill (AB) 418 – the California Food Safety 
Act – would prohibit the manufacture, sale, or distribution in California of 
any food product containing Red Dye No. 3, Potassium Bromate, Brominated 
Vegetable Oil, or Propyl Paraben. The use of these chemicals has already been 
banned in the 27 nations in the Euro-pean Union (EU) as well as many other 
countries due to scientific research linking them to significant health harms, 
including cancer, reproductive issues, and behav-ioral and developmental issues 
in children. 

 

“Today's bipartisan vote marks a huge step forward in our effort to protect 
children and families in California from dangerous and toxic chemicals in our 
food supply,” said Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel. “It’s unacceptable that the 
U.S. is so far behind the rest of the world when it comes to food safety. This bill 
will not ban any foods or products – it simply will require food companies to 
make minor modifica-tions to their recipes and switch to the safer alternative 
ingredients that they al-ready use in Europe and so many other places around 
the globe.”

“Things like this aren’t partisan. They’re common sense,” said former Governor 
and sports and fitness icon Arnold Schwarzenegger, who recently endorsed 
AB 418 in his daily Pump Club Newsletter. “I’m a small government guy. But 
I’ve also seen that sometimes, in a world where every big industry has an army 
of lobbyists, and our kids have no one fighting for them, government has to 
step in.”

AB 418 was amended in the State Senate to remove titanium dioxide from 
the list of banned additives and to delay implementation of the bill until 2027, 
thereby giving food companies more than enough time to negotiate new contracts 
and phase in new recipes. 

Notably, many major brands and manufacturers – including Coke, Pepsi, Gatorade, 
and Panera – have voluntarily stopped using the additives that would 
be banned under AB 418 because of concerns about their impact on human 
health. One of these chemicals – Red Dye No. 3 – is already banned by the FDA 
for use in cos-metics but is somehow still allowed in food.

Toxic chemicals that have been shown to cause cancer and other chronic health 
problems should not be allowed in our food,” said Brian Ronholm, director of 
food policy at Consumer Reports. “Unfortunately, the FDA hasn't taken action 
to protect the public despite the well-documented risks these harmful food 
chemicals pose to our health. We applaud California lawmakers for voting to 
ban these haz-ardous chemicals in food and urge Governor Newsom to sign 
this landmark legis-lation into law."

If signed into law, AB 418 would not ban any products; it would instead require 
companies to make modifications to products sold in California and likely 
prompt a nationwide transition to safer alternatives.

 

“AB 418 is the most important food safety bill in more than a decade and its 
pas-sage would be a historic victory for protecting kids and families from dangerous 
food chemicals,” said Scott Faber, Senior Vice President for Government 
Af-fairs at the Environmental Working Group. “For decades, chemical 
companies have been able to exploit a loophole that allows food additives to 
escape adequate review and oversight by the FDA. Since the FDA has failed to 
keep us safe, it has become the responsibility of states like California to step up 
and lead.”

 

AB 418 now heads to Governor Newsom’s desk, where it must be signed into 
law or vetoed by October 14th. 

HEY SIERRA MADRE WHERE’S THE SERVICE? Peter Dills wants to know

Remember that catchy commercial “where’s the Beef” from the Wendy’s chain years ago? Sure you do ! 
Well, my new question is where is the service? A few years back I had a service (no pun intended) that I 
provided to restaurants, it was basically a shopper’s report, it had such things that I checked out like did 
you get water?, did the server suggest any appetizers? Was the manager visible? It was called table touching 
when the manager or heck someone came to the table to check on how your experience is.

I don’t think the food is the problem at restaurants it seems to be just as good or just as bad as it was 
before Covid, yes we joked around that in Los Angeles your server is just a waiting star waiting for his/
her big break in show biz. Is it just that the servers are burned out? Lots of questions in my article here, 
nearly 48% of service managers say they are overwhelmed and just plain tired of the daily grind. My 
years of going to various restaurants, I understood that the art of being a server was a noble profession, 
what has become of the profession. Even lifelong friends that are waiting on tables or bartenders that I 
interviewed complained about a recent restaurant experience. Just a week or so past my daughter took 
me to a very nice restaurant for my birthday, food was acceptable but at no time did the manager who 
sat us come by and ask us how meal are was. That is unacceptable. When I have brought this subject up 
to four or five of my friends that own restaurants, they respond yeah Pete we know . I think the passion 
is fleeting. I ordered a martini at an upscale So. Lake restaurant and at no time did the bartender come 
by and ask how’s your drink? How about another? Is it the way you wanted it? I could go on and on. Do 
we just stop tipping? That might make it worse, we are already at the bottom of the barrel.

In summary, you order your food and it’s brought out to you, you eat, and you leave, you get into your 
car and say our servers ability to put our order in the computer and retrieve it from the cooks was second 
to none. Going out used to be a special event.

Please follow me on all your social media sites. Peter Dills

 

ALL THINGS By Jeff Brown

RUPERT SPIRA'S QUOTES

"Consciousness is not personal. It is universal and all-pervading. It is the intelli-gence within whichall 
experiencing occurs."

"The essential nature of experience is pure, unqualified, and unchanging aware-ness. Everything else 
is a temporary and changing appearance."

"The greatest discovery you will ever make is the discovery of your essential nature beyond the limitations 
of body and mind."

"The mind's job is to divide and categorize. Awareness simply allows everything to be as it is."

"You are not a person having a spiritual experience; you are pure awareness having a human experience."

"The search for happiness is the search to return to our natural state of being, which is happiness 
itself."

"The peace and happiness we seek in the world are reflections of the peace and happiness that already 
exist within us."

"Freedom is not the absence of thoughts, but the understanding that you are the space in which 
thoughts arise and pass away."

"Love is not an emotion; it is the very nature of awareness itself."

"In the absence of resistance, the natural state of consciousness is one of peace, love, and happiness."

These quotes reflect Rupert Spira's teachings on the nature of consciousness, self-realization, and the 
non-dual perspective. They encourage us to look beyond the surface of our everyday experiences and 
explore the deeper dimensions of our true nature.


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com