BVO To Go: Coca-Cola, Pepsico Finally Removing Toxic Bromated Vegetable Oil From Popular Drinks

Major beverage makers finally vowed on Monday to remove a dangerous toxin called brominated vegetable oil (BVO) from many of America’s most popular drinks, from Gatorade and Powerade to Mountain Dew, Vitamin Water and Fanta.

And it all was because of a series of Change.org petitions started by teenager Sarah Kavanaugh of Hattiesburg, Mississippi (above).

Long banned as a food additive in places like Europe and Japan, BVO has remained a go-to emulsifier in many popular sports drinks and sodas for its ability to keep citrus flavoring fully distributed in the drinks, according to the Mayo Clinic. This despite the fact that it’s a widely known toxin used primarily as a fire retardant.

This didn’t sit well with Kavanaugh when she recently learned via Google about BVO being in her beloved orange Gatorade, so she took to Change.org and petitioned Gatorade’s maker, Pepsico, to consider Scientific American‘s warning about how BVO is “under intense scrutiny because research has shown that [it is] building up in people’s bodies, including breast milk, around the world,” with “links to impaired neurological development, reduced fertility, early onset of puberty and altered thyroid hormones.”

After the pressure of more than 200,000 signatures mounted, Pepsico announced late last year that it would be removing BVO from its drinks. Kavanaugh was elated: “When I went to Change-org to start my petition,” she wrote on the site, “I thought it might get a lot of support because no one wants to gulp down flame retardant, especially from a drink they associate with being healthy. But with Gatorade being as big as they are, sometimes it was hard to know if we’d ever win. This is so, so awesome.”

But she wasn’t done there. Her next target: Coca-Cola and its line of Powerade drinks. Her new petition announced that “If Gatorade can take crazy chemical BVO out of sports drinks, so can you.”

She added, “I know Powerade will listen. If they sell those things overseas without BVO, why risk my health and my friends’ health?”

The signatures started building up again, so Coca-Cola announced on Monday that it would be working to remove all BVO from all of its drinks, not just Powerade but also Fanta and Fresca. Pepsico also came out to say it was finding ways to get BVO out of all of its other products like AMP energy drink and Mountain Dew.

Kavanaugh told USA Today, “It’s really good to know that companies, especially big companies, are listening to consumers.”

That’s not to say that all Coca-Cola and Pepsico products will now be safe and healthy, according to Business Insider, which notes how, in general, “Soda is not healthy.” Not even the sports drinks: “Powerade, Gatorade, and other sports drinks don’t have nearly as much sugar as, say, Mountain Dew, but they still have around 20 grams per serving — or up to 50 grams if you thirstily consume a whole bottle after a run. While brominated vegetable oil comes near the very end of Powerade’s ingredient list, high-fructose corn syrup is number two.”

The Mayo Clinic’s advice is to “take one step further and cut back on all sugary drinks. Opt instead for healthier choices, such as water, low-fat milk and an occasional glass of 100-percent fruit juice.”

Start, of course, by staying off the flame retardant.

[Image courtesy of Sarah Kavanaugh/Change.org]