15 Foods That Are Banned in Europe but Not in the U.S.

[eppur_se_muova]

12. That's "brominated". And alkyl bromides tend to be carcinogenic.

Uh, bromine, element or not, REACTS with lots of things, and the products are NOT necessarily anything like each other. C=C double bonds in unsaturated oils, in particular, add Br2 to form alkyl bromides. For years, soft-drink mfgrs insisted that BVO was harmless, but have quietly dropped it from most of their products, even though they had been using less than 15 ppm BVO in the products. Hmmmm. Snopes has interesting info on what SHORT-TERM conditions arise from overdosing on BVO; long-term effects are still not well-studied.

https://books.google.com/books?id=Iuk93VMrExMC&pg=PA226&lpg=PA226&dq=alkyl+bromide+carcinogenic&source=bl&ots=gbENnvndZC&sig=R4vdWoS8MjK-ZdnQOuJu4QAKAFE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CBYQ6AEwAWoVChMI08rGtKKTxwIVRioeCh3l9Q3_#v=onepage&q=alkyl%20bromide%20carcinogenic&f=false

After a few extreme soda binges — not too far from what many gamers regularly consume — a few patients have needed medical attention for skin lesions, memory loss and nerve disorders, all symptoms of overexposure to bromine. Other studies suggest that BVO could be building up in human tissues, just like other brominated compounds such as flame retardants. In mouse studies, big doses caused reproductive and behavioral problems.

Reports from an industry group helped the U.S. Food and Drug Administration establish in 1977 what it considers a safe limit for BVO in sodas. But some scientists say that limit is based on data that is thin and several decades old, and they insist that the chemical deserves a fresh look.

http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/bvo.asp

The items in the article are admittedly scattershot; some trumped-up, some plain wrong, but BVO is something best avoided.