If white paint wasn’t a bad enough reason for a strip mine too near the Okefenokee Swamp,
how about food coloring linked to serious health issues?
“Research shows the chemical [titanium dioxide] is likely a neurotoxin and immunotoxin,
and can damage the reproductive system, cause birth defects and
damage genes.”
Skittles, TiO2 dragline
Remember: Twin Pines Minerals is proposing to mine titanium dioxide, not titanium metal.
And the Okefenokee Swamp is the headwaters of the Suwannee and St. Marys Rivers,
exchanging surface water with groundwater down to the Floridan Aquifer, from which we all drink in south Georgia and north Florida.
For ways you can object to the permits for that strip mine, currently before the
Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD),
or to support a bill that would prevent it expanding,
see:
https://wwals.net/issues/titanium-mining/
Tom Perkins, The Guardian, June 2, 2023,
Health advocates urge US regulators to ban common food coloring additive:
Titanium dioxide, found in candy, meat substitutes and packaged cookies, has been linked to a range of serious health issues,
Public health advocates say a common color enhancer added to
thousands of US foods is toxic and dangerous, and have formally
petitioned federal regulators to ban the chemical’s use.
Though the compound, titanium dioxide, has been widely used for
decades and is found in foods like M&Ms, Skittles, Beyond Meat
plant-based chicken tenders and Chips Ahoy! cookies, recent science
has shown it is also linked to a range of serious health issues and
accumulates in the body and organs.
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