New California law could ban Skittles, Sour Patch Kids, and Campbell's soup 

A California lawmaker is proposing a law that would ban additives in several candies, including Skittles, Sour Patch Kids, and jelly beans, after they were linked to cancer, and organ and DNA damage. 

“Californians shouldn’t have to worry that the food they buy in their neighborhood grocery store might be full of dangerous additives or toxic chemicals,” said Assembly Member Jessee Gabriel, who proposed the ban alongside Democratic co-sponsor Asm Buffy Wicks. 

The bill, filed AB418 last month, proposes a ban on five substances: propylparaben, red dye, brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, and titanium dioxide. The five chemicals were identified because they are already banned from food products in the European Union, Gabriel said. 

The law would prevent the sale of products made with any of the five substances and would ban them from being manufactured throughout the whole state.

Foods that could be affected by the bill include jelly beans, Campbell’s soup, Sour Patch Kids, Trident gum, PEZ, Skills, and Sun Drop Soda, among others. 

“This bill will correct for a concerning lack of federal oversight and help protect our kids, public health, and the safety of our food supply,” Gabriel told the Daily Mail. 

If passed, foods that include the substances would either have to change their formula in order to be sold in California.

However, it is unlikely that companies producing the candies will have one recipe for California and another for another state. 

“The idea here is for [companies] to change their recipes,” and apply the changes nationwide, the lawmaker said.