California Environmental Protection Agency Archives

California Environmental Protection Agency

August 30, 2024

California lawmakers pass bill banning food dyes in schools

By Shannon Kelleher

California lawmakers this week passed a bill banning schools from serving foods with six artificial dyes linked to neurobehavioral problems in children.

“[The bill] would not ban specific foods or products, but rather encourage companies to make minor modifications to products sold in California and could help prompt a nationwide transition to safer alternative ingredients,” says a press release from the office of California Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, who introduced the California School Food Safety Act (AB 2316) in March.

Governor Gavin Newsom has until the end of September to sign or veto the bill, which passed the state legislature on Thursday with bipartisan support.

The legislation is likely to have sweeping impacts throughout the US, since manufacturers are unlikely to make one version of a food product for California and another for other states, Gabriel noted at a press conference earlier this month.

AB 2316 comes on the heels of the California Food Safety Act (AB 418), the so-called “Skittles bill” signed into law last year that will ban brominated vegetable oil, Red Dye No. 3 and other toxic food additives beginning in 2027. Other states, including Missouri, Washington, New York and Illinois, have already moved to introduce similar bills.

California’s newly passed bill would ban Red Dye No. 40, Yellow Dye No. 5, Yellow Dye No. 6, Blue Dye No. 1, Blue Dye No. 2 and Green Dye No. 3 from California public school foods during regular school hours. Manufacturers use the controversial dyes to give some desserts, beverages and cereals their bright colors, but the additives don’t affect how the foods taste.

November 2, 2022

A dire warning: California report documents climate impacts

By Pam Strayer

California is getting hotter and drier, and extreme weather events are increasingly disrupting the state’s natural environment and the lives of the nearly 40 million people who live there, according to a study released by state officials this week.

The 664-page report, compiled from research by more than 100 state scientists and experts, concludes that the state is experiencing a rapid decline in key indicators of ecosystem health related to climate change. The report identifies dozens of significant threats that could weaken California’s status as the fifth largest economy in the world, currently valued at $3.4 trillion.

“Across the state, we live the experience of extreme weather, deepening drought. and deadly wildfires and heatwaves,” said California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) Secretary Yana Garcia. “This report shows scientifically what we know from experience.”

Among the worrisome findings is the extent to which drought is taking a hold on the state. California has been getting drier since 1895 but by the end of the 2021 water year (which began in October 2020 and ended in September 2021), drought conditions were comparable to the most severe drought period on record, according to the report.

The period from 2000 to 2021 was the driest 22-year period over the past 1,000 years for California and much of the southwestern US, what scientists refer to an emerging “megadrought” era.