I shouldn't have bothered reading the Guardian today. The paper was full of stories about the dangers to our children from their food and from watching too much television...

Researchers at Southampton University have apparently confirmed results first published seven years ago linking additives in food to behavioural problems, such as temper tantrums, poor concentration and hyperactivity. The researchers suggest we should avoid tartrazine (E102)ponceau 4R (E124), sunset yellow (E110), carmoisine (E122), quinoline yellow (E104), and allura red AC (E129) along with the preservative sodium benzoate (E211). Some of these are banned in Scandinavian countries and the USA but they are all approved as safe and legal by the EU. You can find out more at www.guardian.co.uk/foodissues.

The resaerch linking too much television and learning problems came from a twenty year study following 700 children which found that excess TV viewing leads to poor academic achievement... children who watched more than three hours of TV a day develop problems such as boredom, hating school and difficulty doing homework and were much more likely to drop out and underachieve than children who watched less than one hour of TV a day. The scary fact is that the average 12 to 15 year old in Britain spends around seven and a half hours a day in front of a screen! The study is published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine and you can find out more at http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/.
Chris