BVO- Brominated Vegetable Oil – toxic additive in many sports drinks and sodas
July 29, 2009
Most people have never heard of BVO-brominated vegetable oil-yet it’s highly toxic and found in many products we consume in large quantities. Used as an emulsifier and clouding agent in soft drinks such as Mountain Dew, Gatorade, Powerade, some Gatorade, Pineapple and Orange Fanta, Orange Crush, Sun Drop, Squirt and Fresca, BVO can also be found in some bakery products and brands of pasta.
BVO has been banned in over 100 countries. In the U.S. it’s use is regulated by the FDA to the extent that it is “PERMITTED IN FOOD OR IN CONTACT WITH FOOD ON AN INTERIM BASIS PENDING ADDITIONAL STUDY.” (http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/fcf180.html)
Brominated Vegetable Oil, is composed mainly of bromine, a poisonous chemical whose vapors are considered both corrosive and toxic. The chemical bromine is used for a number of products, from light-sensitive photographic printing papers, as an additive for gasoline, to agricultural fumigants.
Consumption of bromine containing products increases bromine content in our system that ultimately competes with iodine and causes iodine deficiency thereby creating a condition called “Brominated Thyroid.” Bromine is a potential carcinogen and causes a number of disorders starting from simple headache, fatigue, weight-gain to cancer, heart and kidney diseases.
The FDA says products that include brominated vegetable oil must declare it in the list of ingredients. Check labels! Cast your vote by not buying products that contain BVO.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brominated_vegetable_oil
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/1999/jul/29/what-brominated-vegetable-oil-and-why-do-soda-comp/
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/348/19/1932
Food Democracy 
November 16, 2010 at 8:09 pm
Another example of FDA sleeping with big corporations, whose greed takes precidence over the safety and health of the American people.
August 24, 2011 at 7:48 pm
Now i know why drinking even one bottle of Mountain Dew makes me feel spaced out, sick, headachey and dizzy. We ‘consumers’ seem to be more like lab rats and cash cows all at once for the big corporations and governments who they are in cahoots with.
January 4, 2012 at 6:20 pm
NO MORE MT DEW OR ANY SODA FOR ME
January 18, 2012 at 6:52 pm
and to think I’ve been drinking sodas with BVO for years, no wonder my eyesight has been decreasing. I cant believe America hasn’t banned the stuff yet. As I learn more about the American FDA compared to the FDA of other countries the more I want to move to Australia, I mean compared to other countries the FDA of America is a cockroach.
January 22, 2012 at 2:37 pm
I am continually amazed at what the FDA tells us is safe to use, and we buy it hook line and sinker! So it goes to follow, first time shame on them, second time shame on me!
January 31, 2012 at 4:16 am
Pop (some) has about 12-14 teaspoons of suger in a 12 oz can + the phosphates take the potassium out of your system which in your later years will give leg and or other cramps; Jolt Cola has twice the sugar and caffiene
January 31, 2012 at 5:42 pm
Now a little care and common sense is needed here – Sodium is also very dangerous as is chlorine (note they state Bromine is dangerous above and thats true – pure bromine is) but when combined sodium and chlorine make salt which does not have either of the characteristics of the constituant elements. I’m not saying BVO may not have its problems – but state the issue correctly – it is not JUST the bromine that is the problem
February 1, 2012 at 9:22 pm
Today I stopped drinking this poison.
June 3, 2012 at 4:28 pm
It is called not drinking it every day….drinking it in excess will cause issues, as ANYTHING consumed in quantity. From the same Wicki source you quote below…
“In one case, a man who drank eight liters of Ruby-Red Squirt daily had a reaction that caused his skin color to turn red and produced lesions diagnosed as bromoderma.”
Anyone stupid enough to drink 8 LITERS of anything other than water daily, would probably suffer renal failure!