According to Reuters (by way of the ProMed-mail mailing list),
factory workers who make food flavorings are at risk of " a rare and
life-threatening lung disease called bronchiolitis obliterans, the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Thursday
[26 Apr 2007]." It "is known to be caused by exposure to
noxious gases in occupational settings and has been described in
workers in the microwave-popcorn industry who were exposed to
artificial butter-flavoring chemicals, including diacetyl," (from the
CDC report.
Eek! That’s pretty scary. I love popcorn—salted by preference,
but butter flavoring is wonderful. The smell of buttered, movie-style
popcorn goes straight to my hindbrain. The CDC report says "Food
flavorings are designated "generally recognized as safe" when approved
by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (6); flavorings are not known
to put consumers at risk for lung disease." but the FDA is not on my
list of supremely trusted individuals… I think I need to do
This part, from the CDC report, really bothered me:
"Bronchiolitis obliterans was first identified in flavor-manufacturing
workers in 1985 (8), although the chemical etiology was not identified
at that time … However, by 2006, many flavoring suppliers still had
not addressed the risk for bronchiolitis obliterans in their material
safety data sheets."
I wish there were a way to set up incentives to encourage
manufacturers to take better care of their employees. Waiting until
someone has gotten hurt isn’t good enough, but I have no idea what
else works…
![[FSF Associate Member]](/users/bts/fsf-button-4448.png){kind=small}
Post a Comment