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Benzene
found in soft drinks
March 2, 2006
Suzanne Havala Hobbs
Could
soft drinks be causing cancer?
It’s a question that deserves attention following the
disclosure that some soft drinks contain the cancer-causing
chemical benzene.
It’s news that hasn’t gotten much attention.
But a science administrator at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
confirmed for me that recent government tests found benzene
in soft drinks purchased off grocery store shelves. Long-term
exposure to benzene is associated with higher rates of leukemia.
What makes this situation scandalous is the fact that FDA
knew about the issue 14 years ago. The agency left it to industry
to address the problem.
Even now, FDA says it would prefer that industry voluntarily
get benzene out of our colas.
How is benzene getting into soft drinks?
It forms when sodium benzoate, used in soft drinks to inhibit
the growth of bacteria, reacts with ascorbic acid, also called
vitamin C.
Glen Lawrence, now a biochemist and professor at Long Island
University, performed the FDA tests that documented the problem
in the early 1990s when he worked for the agency as a science
advisor.
“People at FDA who were testing foods told me they found
benzene in orange soda,” Lawrence told me in a telephone
interview. “I said, ‘I think it must be coming
from the sodium benzoate.’”
Lawrence said he was able to demonstrate that sodium benzoate
and ascorbic acid in soft drinks reacted to form benzene.
He published his findings in the Journal of Agricultural and
Food Chemistry in 1993.
Industry agreed at the time to spread the word among drink
manufacturers and to reformulate their products, reported
the online trade publication BeverageDaily.com.
Follow-up tests found no benzene in soft drinks.
But that has changed.
“An issue we thought went away in the 1990s has come
back,” said George Pauli, associate director of science
and policy in the FDA’s Office of Food Additive Safety.
FDA officials were recently alerted to the problem by a lawyer
in New York who has campaigned to remove soft drinks from
public schools. BeverageDaily.com reported in February that
a former soft drink industry scientist turned whistleblower
helped organize private tests that rediscovered the problem.
The FDA responded by going shopping, Pauli said. They went
to a grocery store, bought some sodas and tested them for
benzene.
“We found occasional levels significantly higher than
expected,” Pauli said.
How much benzene is too much?
The federal standard for benzene in drinking water is 5 parts
per billion. The soft drink samples recently tested by FDA
contained amounts higher than that, Pauli said.
There is no federal standard for benzene in soft drinks aside
from the one used for water.
Pauli said that since the BeverageDaily.com report, he has
received calls from industry representatives about the situation.
“It’s got the soft drink industry’s attention,”
he said. “I expect they’re looking at this now.”
A
spokesman for the American Beverage Association did not respond
to a request for comment.
Pauli said he expects FDA will take action, but the agency
prefers to seek voluntary action from industry. He says voluntary
agreements often can be reached faster than instituting new
regulations.
Pauli makes a valid point. But this is a problem that was
first discovered almost 15 years ago. It’s not good
enough for our government to rely on unannounced, voluntary
agreements with industry representatives to remove a cancer-causing
chemical from such a widely consumed product as soft drinks.
Our elected representatives in Congress and in the executive
branch should ask hard questions about why regulations have
not been established requiring reformulation of drinks to
prevent the creation of benzene.
In the meantime, readers may want to scrutinize drink labels
and avoid products that contain both sodium benzoate and ascorbic
acid.
Lawrence says industry shouldn’t include the two ingredients
in any of their products.
“If they know this has a chance to form benzene, they
should leave it out,” he said.
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