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Questions
raised about food packaging safety
December 08, 05
Suzanne Havala Hobbs
How is perfluorooctanoic acid getting into our blood?
I’ve touched on this topic in earlier columns, examining
questions about the role fumes from nonstick cookware may
play in putting perfluorooctanoic acid – PFOA, for short
– in almost every American’s blood.
New allegations from a chemical company whistleblower raise
the possibility that the toxin may getting into our bodies
from food packaging.
PFOA is produced when the chemicals used to make nonstick
coatings break down. In addition to being applied to pots,
pans and skillets, nonstick coatings also are widely used
for food packaging because of their grease-resistant properties.
They’re used in such things as candy wrappers, pizza
boxes, Chinese take-out and french fry containers, microwave
popcorn bags and the wrappers on fast-food sandwiches.
Earlier this year, an Environmental Protection Agency expert
panel determined PFOA to be a “likely carcinogen.”
The agency plans to study the situation longer and has not
yet finalized its report nor accepted the panel’s recommendation.
Meanwhile, PFOA continues to build up in our bodies. Studies
show it’s in the blood of 95 percent of Americans.
Where’s it coming from?
Last month some possible clues came from former DuPont chemical
engineer Glenn Evers and the watchdog Environmental Working
Group.
Evers worked with DuPont’s nonstick chemicals during
a 22-year career with the company before losing his job three
years ago. He says he was forced out after raising concerns
about the chemicals. The company has said Evers lost his job
in a restructuring.
Evers said the company has known – and kept secret –
for two decades that a chemical used to make food packaging
paper grease-resistant migrates into food at three times the
rate originally reported to the Food and Drug Administration
when it approved the chemical for use in 1967.
Internal company documents supporting Evers’s claim
were obtained by the Environmental Working Group, which shared
them with reporters at a news conference last month.
“These documents indicate a failure to disclose critical
public health information about a toxic chemical that never
breaks down, that gets into our bodies and stays there,”
EWG Senior Scientist Tim Kropp said.
DuPont denies the allegations and says the products are safe.
“FDA has cleared these materials for consumer use since
the late 1960s, and DuPont has complied with FDA regulations
and standards regarding these products,” the company
said in a statement.
DuPont also put forward a strawman statement: “Allegations
that food-contact paper made with DuPont materials contain
unsafe levels of PFOA (C8) are false.”
That’s beside the point, and the company knows it.
The concern is that the chemicals being used in food packaging
paper may be leeching into food at rates higher than previously
disclosed and then possibly breaking down into PFOA after
they are eaten.
The FDA says it’s continuing to study the situation,
adding that for now it has no reason to change its position
that the coatings are safe when used according to its standards.
But Evers says the government standards provide little comfort.
He says DuPont negotiated with the FDA in the mid-1960s to
establish a weak standard for how much of the chemical coating
could seep into food. That standard remains in place today.
Evers also says that 3M, a DuPont competitor, abandoned its
business using similar chemicals when it realized they were
creating byproducts that were accumulating in human blood.
What happened when Evers shared his concerns with company
officials? They told him not to worry and that they were “taking
care of it,” Evers says.
The bottom line?
This case serves as an example of why we need regulatory agencies
with technical expertise and the political will to protect
the public’s health. That requires the backing of elected
representatives willing to put the health of the public before
the interests of major corporations.
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