Gatorade contains flame retardant

From: Ivan R.

Sent: November 26, 2012

To: undisclosed recipients

Subject: Fw: Gatorade contains flame retardant

Gatorade is one of the most recognizable sport drinks for athletes. High schooler Sarah Kavanagh knows this -- she sometimes chooses to drink Gatorade after soccer and volleyball games.

When she noticed "Brominated Vegetable Oil" (BVO) listed as an ingredient in her Gatorade, she looked it up -- and found out that it's considered a flame retardant and banned in countries like Japan and the European Union.

Sarah knows that Gatorade would never want their drinks to be seen as a health risk. When she read about other consumers starting petitions on Change.org that successfully got companies like Starbucks to remove unwanted ingredients, she decided to start a petition asking Gatorade to stop using BVO in their sport drinks. Sign her petition by clicking here.

Gatorade says they use BVO just to keep certain colors bright -- even though some research suggests it can cause impaired brain development, reduced fertility, and can stay in the body for a long time.

The government and the sports drink industry claim that it’s safe to use BVO below certain levels, but Sarah says she doesn't want dangerous flame retardants of any amount in her Gatorade.

BVO is not in every Gatorade drink -- just a few flavors. Sarah doesn't think it makes sense that they would keep such a controversial ingredient for just a couple of drinks, especially since they already have to take it out for sale in other countries.

Help Sarah send a clear message to Gatorade by signing her petition asking them to remove potentially hazardous flame retardants from their sport drinks. Click here to sign.