NEWS2U Health & Wellness
Living Healthy in an Unhealthy World

Thursday, February 07, 2013

Powerade: If Gatorade can take crazy chemical BVO out of sports drinks, so can you















Petition by Sarah Kavanagh
Hattiesburg, United States

Sign the Petition Here

A couple months ago, I found out that one of my favorite drinks, Gatorade’s Orange, contained brominated vegetable oil (BVO). According to Scientific American and other news reports, BVO is patented as a flame retardant and has been banned in Europe and Japan. So I started a Change.org petition asking Gatorade to stop using it. More than 200,000 people signed my petition on Change.org and we won! But I learned that BVO is also in other drinks, like Powerade’s red fruit punch that is actually sold in my school!

It’s weird because Gatorade’s fruit punch doesn’t have BVO! But Powerade’s fruit punch does, and it is probably one of the most popular flavors for my friends. It is so wrong to be selling something like that to a bunch of kids anywhere! What are these companies thinking? I don’t want anyone in my family touching that stuff. Why do these companies put all this weird, crazy stuff in our food and drinks?

After Gatorade agreed to remove BVO from their drinks, a lot of people have been encouraging me to keep going, so now we’re back to officially ask Powerade to do the same thing! It’s common sense that sports drinks here shouldn’t contain crazy ingredients that are banned in entire countries because of health concerns.

I’ve read some crazy information about how BVO and the ingredient bromine can build up in people’s bodies over time and how the chemical is linked to problems with hormones and fertility and stuff like that. I also saw that Powerade may be the official drink of the NCAA for college athletes! Athletes shouldn’t be drinking that! NASCAR also has a deal with Powerade, but I don’t know why unless it’s to put out those engine fires!

Gatorade did an amazing thing and agreed to stop using BVO, and I hope the entire beverage industry is paying attention. Consumers don’t want BVO and every day that they keep it in there makes us trust them less.

For now though, Powerade pretends to be a healthy sports drink and it has to decide if it wants to be the only one (there will be no BVO in Gatorade or Vitamin Water) that still uses a chemical banned in Europe and Japan and that its main competitor, Gatorade, agreed to remove.

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

*Please sign and share to support me*

To: 
Scott Williamson, Vice President, 
Public Affairs and Communications Ben Deutsch, 
Vice President, Corporate Communications Susan Stribling, 
Director of Communications Judith Snyder, 
Group Director, Global Brand PR Sonya Soutus, 
Senior Vice President Rand Carpenter, 
Vice President Alison Lewis, 
Chief Marketing Officer Marcus Wade, 
Vice President, Public Affairs and Communications Steve Soltis, 
Director of Executive Communications Wendy Clark Bea Perez, 
Chief Sustainability Officer Emmanuel Seuge, 
Head of Global Sports & Entertainment Marketing Mike Dillon, 
VP, Global Marketing Strategy Ellen Lucey, 
Director, Sports Marketing Bob Cramer, 
VP, Sports and Entertainment Marketing and Partnerships Carletta Ooton, 
Chief Quality and Product Integrity Officer Ahmet Bozer, 
President Glen Walter, President and Chief Operating Officer Joseph V. Tripod, Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer Clyde C. Tuggle, 
Chief Public Affairs and Communications Officer Diana Garza Ciarlante, Vice-President, Public Affairs & Communications, Caren Pasquale Seckler, 
Vice President, Social Commitment Victoria Badiola, 
Brand manager for Powerade Adrian White, 
Marketing manager Raquel Lachman, 
Brand manager Kavita Patel, 
Brand manager Tutul Rahman

I heard that Gatorade recently decided to stop using brominated vegetable oil in its products. I think that was a great thing for them to do. It took 200,000 people to weigh in on Change.org last time, but I hope you avoid the controversy and remove this chemical, too.

Considering it is banned in Europe and Japan, I’d like to think my health is as important as the people who live there! I hope you’ll agree.

A crazy chemical linked to flame retardants has no place in our sports drinks.

Thank you for your consideration. 

Sincerely,
Sign the Petition Here 

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