"Skittles are unsafe for consumers lawsuit charges because they contain a known toxin" ... how much do you have to eat for them to be dangerous?

heres the story:

My question is how many pounds of skittles or M&M’s (they use the same coloring dye) would you have to eat to get “poisoned”? I would think it would take years depending on how much you ate of them every day ?
Note except for the “zombie” skittles of the year before last Ive boycotted skittles because they took out the lime flavor for “Green apple” until they brought lime back

Titanium is pretty common in processed foods. It’s often in canned clam chowder to make it look whiter.

I came across a serious issue regarding testing things for safety. Which may not relate to this directly. It depends on the testing methods.
Laboratory mice have been bred in ways that actually make them unsuitable for testing. They have been accidentally bred for best profitability to produce them, which has changed them genetically to be more resistant to being killed/damaged by the things that are tested on them.
It has to do with Telomere length on their genes.
It may not relate to this. But it is a major issue in testing for negative effects of things in labs.
Some labs have acknowledged this and taken steps, others have not.

I’m guessing that this is what this is all about,

{} Although the evidence for general toxic effects was not conclusive, on the basis of the new data and strengthened methods our scientists could not rule out a concern for genotoxicity and consequently they could not establish a safe level for daily intake of TiO2 as a food additive. {}

Titanium dioxide: E171 no longer considered safe when used as a food additive | EFSA

https://echa.europa.eu/registration-dossier/-/registered-dossier/15560/7/3/1

Acute toxicity, oral: LD50 > 5000mg/kg bw

I’m not a toxicologist, but the “> 5000 mg/kg” mark feels like “higher than we can measure”. So, at least 5000 miligrams per kilogram of body weight. For a typical adult (62 kg), that’s more than 300 grams of TiO2. So, about 2/3 of a pound. I don’t think anyone eats 2/3 of a pound of Skittles at a shot, but that’s what it would take if Skittles were made from 100% titanium dioxide.

Best. Flavor. Skittle. Ever.

All of them.

The sugar would get you first.

Agree.
The fact that a thing is a toxin and is present in an item, is too often fastened on, before considering the actual amounts dosed in the tests. A lot of healthy plants that we eat regularly have their own anti insect and fungal compounds that in high enough amounts are toxic.
Our bodies deal well with a lot of toxins in reasonable amounts. We excrete them.
I do have issues with how tests are done. How the FDA interacts with submissions of data and regulating testing. But a lot of things are overblown.
I do think overall that the FDA and some other public safety institutions have been too coerced. But it still remains to delve into the test methodology.

Oddly, real black licorice can be harmful at relatively low amounts if eaten often-

Eating more than 57g (2 ounces) of black liquorice a day for at least 2 weeks could lead to potentially serious health problems, such as an increase in blood pressure and an irregular heart rhythm (arrhythmia).

But my WAG is that you would have to eat say, a pound of skittles a day. Anyway, quite a lot. but more research is needed. Until then, I am reasonably sure that a smallish pack every so often would be fine. I would eat that much.

I imagine it is severely detrimental to your underwear. Those black licorice skid marks are not coming out.

Death by Skittles could be more easily accomplished by stuffing them up your nose.

Pretty sure I gave it a good try one Halloween.

LOL!!! :sweat_smile: :laughing:

Skittles are actually banned from some countries.

Obligatory XKCD cartoon.

2/3 of a pound is only a little more than 4 of the regular size packages. Not a tough feat seeing that have something even more nefarious in them:

Opium.

I mean, that’s got to be it, right? Why else are those little things so damn addictive?

You mean this isn’t about Skittles Pox?

This seems like it might be relevant.

As-an-aside,-what-the-heck-happened-to-the-title-of-this-thread?