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Some artificial dyes could be banned from California schools

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Some artificial dyes could be banned from California schools


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California public schools could soon be banned from serving certain artificial dyes in food over concerns about developmental harm in children.

Dubbed a “first-in-the-nation” measure, state lawmakers this week passed Assembly Bill 2316 to prohibit six additives that are permitted by federal regulators to make food more colorful. California’s AB 2316, known as the California School Food Safety Act, is now on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk.

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The bill says state research suggests such synthetic dyes can result in hyperactivity and other behavioral problems. Similar previous research prompted the European Union to restrict food coloring. Nearly all of the products that the California bill would ban in schools require warning labels in E.U. products.

The bill would ban commercial dyes of Blue 1, Blue 2, Green 3, Red 40, Yellow 5 and Yellow 6, in public schools in the nation’s largest state.

“California has a responsibility to protect our students from chemicals that harm children and interfere with their ability to learn,” state Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, a Democrat who authored the bill, said in a statement. He said that he struggled with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD, and he is now a parent.

On Saturday, a spokesperson said Newsom’s office didn’t comment on pending legislation. The deadline for Newsom to sign or veto legislation is Sept. 30, the spokesperson said.

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The nonprofit Environmental Working Group and the California Medical Association, which represents doctors, supported the bill.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approvals for the dyes banned under AB 2316 date back decades, the environmental nonprofit said. Those approvals were based on old studies not designed to detect behavioral effects in children, the medical association had said in its support of AB 2316.

The Consumer Brands Association, a dye industry representative, opposed the bill because it overrode existing food safety rules, and the group disputed findings about adverse health effects. John Hewlitt, the association’s senior vice president of packaging, sustainability and state affairs, said the bill was “advancing a political agenda.”

“The passage of this bill could cost schools and families money, limit choice and access, and create consumer confusion,” he said in a statement provided to USA TODAY. “The approach taken by California politicians flies in the face of our science and risk-based process and is not the precedent we should be setting when it comes to feeding our families.”

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A 2021 state Environmental Protection Agency assessment found American youth diagnosed with ADHD increased in the last 20 years, which prompted the state to look at food dyes. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has similarly tracked increases in ADHD diagnoses in children in recent years.

Focusing on seven food dyes, including those that would be banned under AB 2316, state researchers reviewed prior studies on the effects of these dyes in humans and laboratory animals. Findings indicated they were linked to adverse neurobehavioral outcomes in children, and children varied in sensitivity.

On Friday, an FDA spokesperson told NBC News they had reviewed literature cited in California’s legislation. While saying most children have no “adverse effects” when they eat foods with color additives, the spokesperson reportedly said some evidence suggests certain children may be sensitive.

If signed into law, California’s ban would take effect in schools beginning in 2027.

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Congressional vote to overturn California clean car rules could kill New Mexico mandates

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Congressional vote to overturn California clean car rules could kill New Mexico mandates





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California schools seeing fewer kids as birth rates fall

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California schools seeing fewer kids as birth rates fall


California saw a decline in public school enrollment for an eighth consecutive year, amid falling birth rates and the migration of families with children out of state.

Why It Matters

Declining enrollment in California has been an issue since before the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is an indicator of some of the issues facing the state, including falling birth rates, high housing costs pushing families out of the state and lasting impacts from the pandemic

On top of this, lower enrollment has major financial and social consequences for California’s public schools.

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What To Know

In the academic year 2024-25, California schools had a total of 5,806, 221 students enrolled, according to data released by California’s Department of Education on Wednesday. This is a 7 percent decrease from the 6,235,520 recorded a decade ago.

There is also more than a 20 percent difference between the size of the number of students leaving school (488,295) and those starting it (384,822).

Stanford University education professor and economist Thomas Dee told The Los Angeles Times: “These losses largely reflect the fact that there are now substantially fewer school-age children in the state.

“This demographic decline is due to both lower birth rates and net migration of families with children out of California — e.g., due to housing costs and the growth of work-from-home employment.”

Indeed, California, like much of the rest of the United States, has a declining birth rate.

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In 2023, the most recent year for which the California Department of Public Health records birth data, there were 400,129 births. This is down almost 100,000 births from a decade ago, when there were 494,392 births.

A file photo of John Marshall High School in Los Angeles, taken on March 13, 2020, shows students waiting outside after being let out early following an announcement of a district-wide closure caused by the…


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The state’s fertility rate was 49 per 100,000 residents in 2023—down from 60.6 per 100,000 residents in 2013.

However, California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond stressed that there has been growth in transitional kindergarten (TK) enrollment—a new grade that serves four-year-olds.

What People Are Saying

Thomas Dee also spoke about “the students who fled public schools at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic who still have not returned.”

“The public school enrollment losses also reflect an enduring increase in private and home-school enrollment,” he added.

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Tony Thurmond said: “While we have more work to do, the dramatic growth in TK is inspiring and shows that providing rigorous and quality programs can be a key ingredient to bringing more families back to our schools.”

What Happens Next

It remains to be seen whether enrollment will continue to decline in California and what impacts that will have.



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California to sue over U.S. Senate revoking state’s EV mandate, strict emission standards

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California to sue over U.S. Senate revoking state’s EV mandate, strict emission standards



California to sue over U.S. Senate revoking state’s EV mandate, strict emission standards – CBS Sacramento

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California is fighting back a day after the U.S. Senate voted to put the brakes on the state’s clean vehicle policies.

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