Crayola is famous for its colorful crayons, but they also market candies intended to cover children’s mouths with controversial artificial dyes that can trigger hyperactivity in many sensitive children. Please sign my petition asking Crayola to stop marketing these Color Your Mouth products.

Crayola’s “Color Your Mouth” (that’s actually what they are called) candies are packaged like those iconic arts and crafts supplies, but what’s inside will make you turn green. Crayola calls theses candies “Color Your Mouth” because they have so much artificial dye in them, they will stain kids’ tongues, fingers, and clothes bright red, yellow, green, orange, and blue.

While Nestle and Kraft Foods have taken big steps to start removing these dyes from their products because of their proven adverse effects on kids, Crayola appears to have no concerns about using ingredients that can be harmful to children.

Alessandra, my 9 year old daughter, has struggled with food induced hyperactivity since she was a toddler. When she was 2 years old, we noticed that she began having long temper tantrums several times a day, in addition to becoming defiant and angry, with somewhat of a distant look in her eyes. It wouldn't matter what we did, her tantrums and defiance would not end until whatever it was worked its way out of her body.  Alessandra would become worse if we moved our feet, closed the door, or changed anything until the process ran its course. This was very confusing and frustrating for all of us.

We've come to realize that Alessandra is one of many children who are highly sensitive to many foods.

While we were able to address her early tantrums by removing dairy from her diet, we noticed soon after that something else began triggering Alessandra’s tantrums. We quickly linked it to the artificial dyes. Within fifteen minutes of eating or drinking products with artificial dyes, our beautiful and intelligent child would stop responding to discipline, would get very angry, and lash out at us in rage. We immediately eliminated all foods, medicines, and drinks with dyes and were amazed that within a couple of days of being dye free, we had a compliant, loving, sweet child.

As a mom, I felt horrible and inadequate that I didn’t know. Alessandra has told me “I never want another child to feel like I did, or to go through the hours of anxiety that I felt. It was confusing and I didn’t want to have bad behavior…..I just couldn’t control myself.” To turn a negative situation into a positive one, Alessandra has decided to become an advocate for change in the food supply chain, and she especially wants to help push corporations to be responsible in what they offer to kids like herself. She feels that her friends and other kids deserve better!  As her mom, I am fully supportive and want her voice to be heard.  Please let her experience promote change and sign our petition!

Studies demonstrate that artificial dyes cause hyperactivity in sensitive children. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration even acknowledges that fact. But the FDA has refused to ban dyes or even require warning labels, as the European Union does for most dyes. As a mother whose family has benefited from eliminating artificial dyes from our diet, I do not believe these products should be created for and marketed directly to children.

If you believe, as we do, that these unnecessary and unhealthy dyes do not belong in our food supply, let alone be marketed directly to our kids, please sign my petition asking Crayola to stop hawking “Color Your Mouth” candies to kids.

We’ve decided to work with the experts at Center for Science in the Public Interest to ask Crayola to stop marketing these harmful “Color Your Mouth” candies for kids.