The golden-brown color of many soft drinks comes with a dose of the chemical 4-methylimidazole, or 4-MeI. On U.S. product labels it appears simply as "caramel coloring."
Those who say the chemical may possibly cause cancer include the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer and the state of California, which now limits manufacturers to 29 micrograms of exposure for the average consumer per day.
"We are concerned about both the levels of 4-MeI we found in many of the soft drinks tested and the variations observed among brands, especially given the widespread consumption of these types of beverages," said Dr. Urvashi Rangan, a Consumer Reports toxicologist, in a statement. There is no reason why consumers need to be exposed to this avoidable and unnecessary



