We took a trip to our local shopping centre because I needed to return a few items and Ellie had been talking about buying 20p sweeties from a machine for about a week and a half. I am not that keen o the girls buying sweets but I thought how terrible could a 20p machine be? Its probably a wee gumball type machine with minstrels on one side and bouncy balls on the other right?
WRONG
This thing is a monster. It is right in the entrance so it is basically unavoidable. It is filled with bubble gum (which I won't let my kids near) and chocolate and hard sweets and bouncy balls in an array of scary scary but of course enticing and exciting colours, shapes and sizes. It is the most tacky thing I have ever seen come to the South Side of Glasgow!!
The main issue for me(aside from the nagging for it and the sugar) is the E numbers that are in most of these sweets. They are the kind that are banned in many countries. The kind that cause hyperactivity and sensitivities. Some countries have already banned them. Carmoisine (E122), for instance, is banned in Norway, Sweden, America and Japan. It is a synthetic azo dye which casues allergic reactions and hyperactive behaviour in children. Quinoline (E104) the yellow colour found in sweets and soft drinks is banned in Japan, Norway, America and Australia. It is a synthetic dye obtained from coal tar and causes hyperactivity in some children. Ponceau 4R (E124) which makes the bright red and Sunset Yellow (E110) have been banned in Norway, Sweden, US and Japan. They also cause hyperactive behaviour in some children. And don't get me started on the blue sweets. As I say to Ellie nothing in the world is that blue. She argues with me that blueberries are blue but I assure her they do not use blueberries in those kind of sweets! If only!
You will notice that UK has not banned ANY of these additives.
"Food additives go a long way to explaining the exponential rise in the number of children in this country diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and other behavioural problems.
Nearly 400,000 prescriptions for drugs to treat ADHD are written each year, an astonishing 90-fold rise since the early 1990s." Article
In a city that boast 1 in 5 kids as obese and having the worst health statistics for diabetes and heart disease, I find it seriously remiss that this 'candy station' is so prominent and frankly should not be available at all.
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| hyper much? |
In addition, having it displayed in the entrance is completely unacceptable and causes many issues and upsets before the shopping experience has even started.
Basically, I want them to remove the station from the centre.
I have started a petition to have the 'candy station' removed from the centre, please, for the sake of your children's health, please sign
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