After the news that Gatorade contains flame retardant hit, PepsiCo vowed to remove the ingredient, according to a Jan. 27 RedOrbit report. A Mississippi teenager started a petition to get the company to remove the flame retardant from PepsiCo, and while they will remove it, they claim it is not because of the petition from Sarah Kavanagh, 15.
The flame retardant in Gatorade is brominated vegetable oil (BVO). Citrus-flavored beverages in the US are legally allowed to use small amounts of bromine (the fire retardant) as an emulsifier. The Gatorade flavors that contain BVO are orange, lemonade, and citrus cooler.
Soon, though, those flavors of Gatorade will not have BVO. The BVO will be replaced by sucrose acetate isobutyrate. Apparently these plans have been in place for the past year or so, but the teen's petition brought the information out to the public.
Gatorade has a partnership with the NFL, and it is a sports drink that many professional and non-professional teams use. This is a beverage that should be safe and healthy.
Sarah Kavanagh's petition garnered over 200,000 signatures, which is pretty amazing for this 15-year-old. While PepsiCo will remove BVO from Gatorade, the flame retardant will not be removed from Mountain Dew and Diet Mountain Dew.
Perhaps it is time for another petition. Probably one of the other concerns about this Gatorade flame retardant news is that the U.S. allows BVO in beverages when many other countries have banned it.
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