Coca-Cola Removes Flame Retardant Chemical From Powerade

Published May 6, 2014 at 12:35 PM CDT

Mississippi teenager Sarah Kavanagh launched the Change.org petitions to remove BVO from Gatorade and Powerade. (Change.org)

Coca-Cola has decided to change the formula of several of its beverages by removing the controversial ingredient brominated vegetable oil (BVO).

The move comes after a petition on Change.org by Mississippi teenager Sarah Kavanagh, to have BVO removed from Pepsi’s Gatorade sports drink, garnered over 200,000 signatures.

Pepsi agreed to remove the ingredient, and Kavanagh launched a similar petition for Coke with regards to Powerade.

On Monday, Coke announced it has already made the modification to several of its Powerade drinks, and that it would be removing it from all of its beverages that contain it.

BVO contains bromine, which is also used as a flame retardant and can build up in fatty tissue, leading to health problems.

The Wall Street Journal’s Jason Bellini joins Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson to discuss the changes in the beverages, as well as overall sales of soft drinks.

Guest

Jason Bellini, video reporter and senior producer for the Wall Street Journal. He tweets @jasonbellini.