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Are Bromated vegetable oil, red dye 3, propylparaben, and potassium bromate banned additives in Barbados?

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Bromated vegetable oil, red dye 3, propylparaben, and a complex additive known as potassium bromate were banned. 

Dr. Jerome Walcott, Minister of Health
Indar Weir, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security

The following – submitted by social commentator Kammie Holder inquires, if similar measures are being undertaken by local public health authorities to protect the health of Barbadians. There is the saying the health of a nation, is the wealth of a nation. Barbados is known for it NCDs, hypertension, obesity, diabetes leading the way.

In October 2023, California became the first state in America to ban four harmful food additives that have been linked to cancer and a wide array of diseases. Bromated vegetable oil, red dye 3, propylparaben, and a complex additive known as potassium bromate were banned. Many of the four additives have been banned in countries all around the world, but they can be found in everything from candies and cookies to fruit juice and bread in the US. However, the most interesting of the additives banned was potassium bromate, which is found throughout the US food supply. Many of the four additives have been banned in countries all around the world, but they can be found in everything from candies and cookies to fruit juice and bread in the US. However, the most interesting of the additives banned was potassium bromate, which is found throughout the US food supply.

California banned a dangerous food additive that’s still in most American bread (msn.com)

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11 responses to “Are Bromated vegetable oil, red dye 3, propylparaben, and potassium bromate banned additives in Barbados?”

  1. David Avatar
    David

    Yearwood: Where is money from health service tax going?

    The Democratic Labour Party (DLP) is questioning how the government is using the money collected from the Health Service Contribution (HSC), claiming the $60 million it has raised has failed to fix seemingly never-ending problems at the country’s lone public hospital.
    In an online discussion on Wednesday, DLP President Dr Ronnie Yearwood said the HSC, which was introduced in October 2018 and implemented through the National Insurance and Social Security Service to help raise funds to pay for the island’s rising health bill, had not made any significant improvement to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH).
    His comments came amid reports that a radiation treatment machine at the QEH has been out of commission for several months, with several cancer patients placed on waiting lists to have their procedures performed outside of the country.
    Yearwood said the report on the cancer patients, along with other issues reported at the institution for the past several months, do not paint a pleasant picture of the hospital, and he believes the government needs to give answers as to how the health levy is being spent on its upkeep.
    He hit back at Central Bank Governor Dr Kevin Greenidge who declared the Barbados economy was “back” as he signalled in his review of 2023 that the country had fully recovered from the depression of the COVID-19 pandemic: “If the economy was back, why is the QEH in such a mess, where [are] the cancer machines?”
    “What kind of human being, what kind of minister, what kind of structure to a political party could do that to people who are vulnerable, who are suffering, who are hurting, who are not receiving the care that they deserve that they are used to when we are raking in . . . over $50 million for the health levy?
    “We were promised that the model of financing for the QEH would make it sustainable because the money ain’t mixing up with government money. Why is it not working, why is the model not working? You are not explaining this to us. Where is the $60 million that you are taking directly in that health levy from Barbadians?” the DLP leader questioned.
    Yearwood described the current situation at the QEH as unacceptable as he urged the government to get its priorities in order and correct the situation.
    “How has the QEH reached this state of disrepair, this state where people are not getting the treatment that they deserve and that they need, and these things can cause loss of life? Let us be realistic. You spend five days before you get on a bed in a corridor somewhere in [Accident & Emergency], how is that conducive to your good healthcare?” he questioned.
    “The ordinary people of this country can’t get on a plane and go nowhere for no treatment. They have to go to the QEH, and it should be functioning. The question is, where are the priorities?”
    (SB)


    Source: BT

  2. David Avatar
    David

    In a related matter, it seems Agrofest has transformed to an annual entertainment production to make money for some players.

    https://barbadosunderground.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-agrofest-783×1024.png

  3. David Avatar
    David

    Doc says heart disease on the rise

    https://barbadostoday.bb/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Dr-Dawn-Scantlebury-Interventional-Cardiologist-and-1st-Vice-President-of-the-Heart-Stroke-Foundation-e1706935879601-760×475.jpeg

    Article by Barbados Today
    Published on
    February 3, 2024

    Diseases of the heart, arteries and veins are on the rise in Barbados, defying attempts to slow the trend, a heart surgeon and activist in the country’s heart health charity has said.

    Cardiologist Dr Dawn Scantlebury, first vice-president of the Heart & Stroke Foundation, made the disclosure to Barbados TODAY during the foundation’s Go Red for Women initiative on Friday.

    The initiative, in which supporters wore red, is aligned with a 20-year-old campaign run by the American Heart Association, aimed at raising awareness of heart disease as the number one killer of women.

    There had been no discernible drop in the levels of heart disease among Barbadian women, particularly considering a push for healthier lifestyles in recent years, said Dr Scantlebury, whose speciality in interventional cardiology involves performing heart and blood vessel procedures with a catheter.
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    “Unfortunately, I am not seeing any improvement. What I am actually seeing is an increase in cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular disease mortality because I am on the receiving end of our failures,” she said.

    According to the Barbados National Registry (BNR) for Chronic Non-Communicable Disease which records cases of heart disease, strokes, and cancers, there were 547 heart attacks, with 285 among men and 262 among women in 2020, the most recent year where full data is available.
    Courtesy Garage: Nissan Frontier Jan 22 – Feb 4 300×300

    Pointing to those figures and recent anecdotal reports from healthcare professionals, Dr Scantlebury said it was clear that numbers associated with lifestyle diseases and other complications are on the rise.

    “Looking at the fact that in the last 10 years they (BNR) have been collecting data on heart disease, there has been a progressive increase in heart attacks [and] there has been a progressive increase in strokes,” she said. “So, we have had increases, and then over COVID, we had a decline in how well these risk factors were being managed because the health system was taken up with managing COVID. So there [was] this loss of control of the hypertension, the diabetes, and all of that. So I have physically felt the burden of this increase of cardiovascular disease, just as my workload has increased significantly.”
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    While praising the government’s efforts to fight risk factors for heart disease, particularly the implementation of the National School Nutrition Policy in 2023 to prevent students from consuming unhealthy foods at school, the heart specialist said she is concerned that Barbadians have been living unhealthy lifestyles for some time, which requires more drastic measures to be taken.

    “I know the government is pushing it on that end, but from my end what I will be seeing is the years and years of neglect of the NCDs. Once you get to a critical mass, it’s hard to turn back the time,” she said.
    (SB)

    Source: BT

  4. Kammie M Holder Avatar
    Kammie M Holder

    @David, I can confirm that, as I have seen increased cancers of every conceivable class and coronary disease within my portfolio. UWI, need to undertake some studies to ascertain causation and correlation

  5. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    Herein lies a conceptual if not editorial contradiction.

    On the one hand, maximum economic performance is sought.

    On the other, issues of heathy food are expected within a vicious capitalist constructionism, well grounded in sucking the blood of us all, in the service of their top and bottom lines.

    The same system which says health care is to be privatized. That profit must be the god worshipped. That GDP. and the like, have primacy instead, of maybe a happiness index, as practiced elsewhere.

    Bottom line. Within these circumstances weee should expect worse and worse health outcomes, even for the moneyed class, and despite the loose talk about a sustainable environment, that under capitalism it has always been impossible to prioritize human needs.

  6. David Avatar
    David

    @Kammie

    One would think a tertiary institution would not have to be nudged to be proactive in research. We have discussed the capacity of UWI to be a research university in this space.

  7. Bajan Yankee Avatar
    Bajan Yankee

    @Pachamama, I came to the conclus a long time ago most don’t think, many follow blindly and those that think are considered threats to the status quo. Most are only concern with the daily existence

  8. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ David on February 3, 2024 at 10:43 AM said:
    “Kammie
    One would think a tertiary institution would not have to be nudged to be proactive in research. We have discussed the capacity of UWI to be a research university in this space.”
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    So which comes first? The research or the funding?

    It seems the blog master is slowly coming around to the idea of a ‘Fast-Food’ Levy aka FAT Tax on these NCDs distributors.

    Aren’t there ‘specific’ taxes levied on alcoholic and tobacco products which have been claimed to be ‘dangerous’ to human health?

    Why not, then, on the convenient consumption of fast foods which are believed to be a major cause of NCDs in Barbados?

    Why not frontload the inevitable high cost(s) of NCDs health care which the State will be expected to underwrite in an overly dependent ‘welfare’ society?

    Since the government seems to have no plans of introducing a national Health Lottery to help fund the increasing costs of the QEH and its satellite health care providers (a proposal long ago supported by Kammie Holder) why not go the taxation route?

  9. David Avatar
    David

    @Miller

    Funding is necessary but the vision and strategy must be clear.

  10. GP Avatar
    GP

    Miller
    You should ask the BU BOVINE EFFLUXERS to SET UP THE HYPOSESES &
    THE METHODOLOGY
    THAT SHOULD BE HILARIOUS AND PROVIDE THE FUNDING

    As you know I not too smart but can someone explain the difference between food cooked at home and fast food.

    Is it not true that any moron can talk ?

    Watch now………watch.

  11. Kammie Holder Avatar
    Kammie Holder

    @miller, I have attended no less than three Health Care Financing symposiums, and proposed the ideas of lottery and hospital trust.
    Again, the modus operandi is to allow problems to fester then for a capitalist crusader or PEP to arrive with a money making solution.

    A scale of fees for doctors is a must if rising unprecedented health care cost is to be tamed. Client told me of a office which increased MRIs from January 2024 from $4000 to $4500

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