Posted on 04/05/2006 5:34:43 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - Cancer-causing benzene has been found in soft drinks at levels above the limit considered safe for drinking water, the Food and Drug Administration acknowledged Wednesday.
Even so, the FDA still believes there are no safety concerns about benzene in soft drinks, or sodas, said Laura Tarantino, the agency's director of food additive safety.
"We haven't changed our view that right now, there is not a safety concern, not a public health concern," she said. "But what we need to do is understand how benzene forms and to ensure the industry is doing everything to avoid those circumstances."
The admission contradicted statements last week, when officials said FDA found insignificant levels of benzene.
In fact, a different study found benzene at four times the tap water limit, on average, in 19 of 24 samples of diet soda.
Tarantino said chemists may have overestimated the amount of benzene and that levels in diet soda were still relatively low compared with other sources of benzene exposure.
The samples were collected as part of the FDA's ongoing Total Diet Study, which looks for contaminants and nutrients in many foods and beverages.
FDA has been doing a separate study of benzene in soft drinks, but it is not ready to release the results, Tarantino said.
The Environmental Working Group has accused the FDA of suppressing information about benzene in soft drinks.
"If they're so confident the situation is not a safety risk, they need to release the data to prove it," said Richard Wiles, the group's senior vice president. "The only data available to the public contradict their claim."
Benzene, a cancer-causing chemical linked to leukemia, can form naturally and is found in forest fires, gasoline and cigarette smoke. It's widely used in industrial production to make plastics, rubber, detergents, drugs and pesticides.
Benzene can also form in soft drinks made with Vitamin C and sodium or potassium benzoate. Heat, light and shelf life can affect whether benzene will form, according to FDA.
A spokesman for the American Beverage Association said the amount of soft drinks people consume is far less than the amount of tap water they are exposed to.
"You can crunch the numbers any way you want; it's still adding up to safe products," said the spokesman, Kevin Keane. "We're going to continue to work with FDA to ensure the safety of our products."
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On the Net:
Food and Drug Administration: http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/(tilde)news/whatsnew.html
Environmental Working Group: http://www.ewg.org
American Beverage Association: http://www.ameribev.org
Well ok then, how about a list of the actual drinks found to have high levels and what those levels were!?
(Not you, them) :^)
consume vs. exposed to .....These are very different things. Taking a shower exposes a persons to lots of water, but he dowsn't drink the water. Some people drink diet soft drinks all day long.
You actually breathe in a fair amount of benzene,
(in my recollection from working in the Chemical Industry) from merely pumping your own gas. Even with the vacuum pumps. I could be WRONG or God forbid, A TROLL..
I cannot site a study, I know that the owner of my Chem. Transport company told me that in the late 90's.
FLAME AWAY!
Please ,
No flames. :)
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Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry web site
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts3.html
Benzene is widely used in the United States; it ranks in the top 20 chemicals for production volume. Some industries use benzene to make other chemicals which are used to make plastics, resins, and nylon and synthetic fibers. Benzene is also used to make some types of rubbers, lubricants, dyes, detergents, drugs, and pesticides. Natural sources of benzene include volcanoes and forest fires. Benzene is also a natural part of crude oil, gasoline, and cigarette smoke.
Wild cherry diet Pepsi here.
Don't like fizzy drinks. Prefer my Sprite flat. Drink of choice is iced tea with mint.
Still miss Vanilla Snapple-*sigh*
Maybe you should cut down on the caffeine.
Got my chops busted the other night over the Homeland Security Pervert! Feeling a tad defensive! Actually, I can't drink soda or caffeine due to GERD!
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