Introduction   Most people want to be healthy and avoid disease and illness. Most parents, in particular, want their children to be healthy and safe and wouldn’t dream of intentionally feeding or exposing them to dangerous chemicals or toxins. Unfortunately, most of us have little idea about the chemicals and toxins we’re exposed to everyday in our environment, and worse, through the food we eat.   The following examples may shock you, but — incredibly — they are real.   Many brands of peanut butter in Australia contain a particularly nasty chemical known as butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA). This chemical is known to cause stomach cancer in rats and mice and is strongly thought to be a human carcinogen also. Usually there is no mention of this additive on the label due to a loophole in the labelling laws in this country. Other equally effective, non-toxic additives exist that can do the same job, but BHA is cheaper and so is more widely used. Ice cream cones, you would think, would not contain many additives, and, if they did, surely they would be non-toxic? Think again. Most popular brands contain at least three artificial colours that are linked to hyperactivity, are suspected or known carcinogens that are banned in the US, and/or are known mutagens (agents that damage DNA). In addition, many of these products also contain the antioxidant BHA, mentioned above. Baby food is protected under legislation from the addition of many of the more toxic common food additives. Even so, throughout the research for this book, examples were found of well known baby foods that contained suspected carcinogens, mutagens, and artificial colours that are known to promote hyperactivity and are linked to asthma. There are many more disturbing examples of toxic chemicals in the food we eat everyday, some of which I will share with you throughout this book. These “additives” are not food–they are toxic chemicals–and they have no place in our diet.   Many food additives are harmless and may be beneficial, but there are numerous food additives still in use today that are known to be dangerous and which, given the choice, most of us would choose not to consume or feed to our families.   You are probably thinking, “How can this be true? Surely it is illegal in Australia to put toxic chemicals in the food we buy?” Unfortunately, it is not. Of the 300 or so permitted food additives in Australia at least 30 are known or suspected carcinogens. Many others are bannedin other countries because of known adverse health effects, yet are still permitted in Australia.   The reason for this is that our testing of food chemicals is not as rigorous as in other countries. In some countries, a food additive will be banned if it is seen to cause any cancerous effects in any animal studies.   In Australia, astoundingly, this precautionary principle is not applied universally when evaluating the safety of food additives. This is why we have carcinogenic, mutagenic and teratogenic substances (agents that can cause birth defects) present quite legally in many of our processed foods today. More about this and the regulation of food additives in Australia can be found in Chapter 6: Testing and approval of additives on page 22.   Despite all this, however, there is some very good news. There still are many low additive, healthier choices available in our supermarkets today. Even with the ever increasing prevalence of food additives in our food, across most product ranges there are smart choices that the informed shopper can make.   We can greatly reduce our daily intake of unnecessary, and often unsafe, food chemicals and toxins simply by choosing products that do not contain these dangerous substances. Thankfully, there are still products with little or no “nasty” additives in them, and these are the products we should be supporting.   The food-manufacturing industry is big business. There is a vast amount of energy and money invested by the food industry into packaging goods to be appealing to customers. In some cases, downright misleading and false statements are made to reassure consumers about the safety of products. For example, undesirable ingredients are listed using long and complex chemical names and numbers, or are simply not declared at all.   The reality is, that although most people would like to be better informed about the food they eat and what is in it, most of us can not find the time to read and understand food labels. The people who most often do are the people who have to — usually those with a health problem or those with a child or family member with an illness or health concern. Most of us are simply too busy to take on this task and we assume and hope that the food we buy must be safe. Unfortunately this is not always the case, even in Australia.   But relax, keep reading and do not panic!   You do not have to become a label-reading expert or a dedicated home scientist to decipher all the chemical names, numbers and symbols, to eliminate many of these suspect chemicals from your families diet.   Additive Alert: Your Guide to Safer Shopping has been compiled to put you, the consumer, back in control of what you buy and what you put into your body. With a little bit of knowledge about how to read food labels, and up-to-date information about which additives you need to avoid, you can very easily make some simple changes to your shopping and eating habits that will reap real benefits for your whole family.   In the following pages you will learn how to avoid products with suspect additive ingredients. Armed with this information you can greatly reduce your consumption of these chemicals and, most likely, improve your health in the process. Purchase the Book