CHILDREN’S DRINKS CONTAIN INGREDIENTS THAT CAN FORM BENZENE

FDA silent despite knowledge of the problem

Agency Trusted Industry to Change Formulas in 1990, Yet Still Finds
Sodas with Benzene

By Abid Aslam

WASHINGTON – February 28 – Today the Environmental Working Group (EWG) sent a letter to the FDA requesting that the Agency notify the public about the presence of two ingredients in many popular children’s drinks that can mix together to form the cancer-causing chemical benzene. The FDA last addressed this problem more than 15 years ago when it entered into a voluntary agreement with the beverage industry to reformulate its products to avoid the presence of this hazardous mixture. It appears, based on news reports and a sampling by EWG of popular children’s drinks from retail outlets, that many manufacturers have not complied.

In 1990, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) learned that certain soft drinks marketed to children contain two ingredients that can mix in the soda to form the toxic carcinogen benzene. The Agency didn’t tell the public, but instead merely asked companies to voluntarily change their formulas to eliminate the problem.

So far in 2006, two news outlets have reported that the Agency is again testing soft drinks, finding benzene sometimes at levels above the safe limit for drinking water, and asking companies to change their formulas. To date the FDA has concealed this information from the public.

On February 24 and February 27, 2006, EWG staff found many juices and sodas at major national retail outlets containing the ingredients that can form benzene. The beverage industry appears to have flagrantly ignored the 1990 agreement to eliminate chemical combinations that can form benzene in their products and the FDA, by all accounts, has done nothing about it.

“Benzene is a potent carcinogen that has no place in foods and drinks targeted to children,” said Richard Wiles, Sr. Vice President of Environmental Working Group. “We urge the FDA to immediately issue a statement telling consumers which ingredients in foods and drinks can combine to form benzene,” Wiles added.

In the meantime EWG is providing the following information to consumers:

To steer clear of chemicals in foods and drinks that can mix together to form benzene, consumers should avoid products that contain both ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and either sodium benzoate or potassium benzoate. “Once again, the FDA has sided with industry and against the public, in this case by concealing simple information that would allow people to easily avoid benzene in the drinks they give their children,” said Wiles. “Once people have this information, we are convinced that food and drink manufacturers will simply reformulate their products, as many already have done, and as FDA originally intended in 1990.”

Additional Resources:

A list of drinks containing ascorbic acid and either sodium benzoate
or potassium benzoate

My children were watching Spongebob Squarepants tonight. On the episode they were watching, Mr. Crabs decided to sell his “mom and pop” family restaurant the Krusty Crab to a big company that ultimately made so many changes to the eatery that it became unrecognizable.

One of the big changes they made was to the menu. Instead of the traditional crabby patties the new company was manufacturing some sort of grey slime with no nutritional value. Then they processed the slime into the shape of a crabby patty and spray painted it so that it had all of the color and texture of a real crabby patty. The patrons sat mindlessly eating the new patties with no clue as to what they were actually eating.

As I was watching this episode play out I kept thinking that most of the commercial food available today is processed in much the same way! So many additives, preservatives, chemicals, hormones, and antibiotics are added to our food, they no longer resemble the healthy food choice they used to be. We may as well come to realize that much of the popular foods at the nearby grocer may as well be grey slime with spray paint for all of the nutritional value they contain. Not only is the nutritional value non-existent, these foods are actually harmful to our bodies. How much grey slime and spray paint can we eat before our bodies start to shut down?

In this Spongebob episode Mr. Crabs ultimately found out what had happened to his beloved Krusty Crab and in a rage he showed the customers what they were really eating. All of the patrons ran screaming for the door in horror. They felt that they had been tricked into eating “garbage”!

I sat there watching and screaming, “Yes!” in my head. Many in society today have been tricked into eating garbage. We can all take a lesson from Spongebob and stop this insanity. Start evaluating your diet today and make some changes. First and foremost you should start eating organic foods that are “garbage” free. If you are truly motivated to protect your health and sharply reduce your risk to many prevalent diseases and ailments, you will want to make the effort to purchase organically produced food at every opportunity. Every time that you choose conventionally farmed foods or processed foods over organic, you are increasing your cumulative exposure to chemicals and raising your risk of disease. Don’t be fooled into eating grey slime!

For more information on healthful and natural eating visit www.naturemoms.com