That buttery aroma might be toxic, too: Common chemical in popcorn at
center of concern

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http://tinyurl.com/22bhnn

Thursday, August 30, 2007
Last updated 12:52 a.m. PT
By ANDREW SCHNEIDER
P-I SENIOR CORRESPONDENT

Pop Weaver, one of the largest producers of microwave popcorn, is
removing a controversial chemical flavoring agent from its products.

The chemical -- diacetyl -- adds buttery taste. Government worker
safety investigators have linked exposure to the synthetic butter to
the sometimes fatal destruction of the lungs of hundreds of workers in
food production and flavoring factories.

And while Pop Weaver has dropped diacetyl from its product, it remains
in widespread use in thousands of other consumer products, including
the microwave popcorn brands Orville Redenbacher and Act II.

Despite the worker safety findings -- and despite scores of jury
decisions and settlements awarding millions of dollars to workers who
sued after having their lungs destroyed by exposure to diacetyl --
neither the Food and Drug Administration nor the Consumer Product
Safety Commission have investigated. The FDA years ago declared the
chemical safe for consumption. Labels on almost all products
containing it call it a flavoring and only rarely do the labels
mention diacetyl.

The only government investigators to examine whether consumers are at
risk -- whether diacetyl is released when consumers pop corn in their
home microwaves, and if so, how much -- is the Environmental
Protection Agency. But to the frustration of many public health
workers, the findings of the EPA's study -- which began in 2003 and
was completed last year -- have been released only to the popcorn
industry.

In part, it was the EPA's study that led Pop Weaver to reformulate its
flavoring without diacetyl, said Mike Weaver, chief executive officer
of the 80-yearold family-owned company.

"We have to have good flavors, but at the same time we have to have
ingredients that consumers feel good about and we were hearing too
many concerns raised about diacetyl," he said. "With these growing
concerns and with EPA's actions, we felt it was the prudent to stop
using diacetyl and we have."

In addition to Pop Weaver and six other private brands, the Indiana-
based company also sells "Trail's End" popcorn for the Boy Scouts of
America. Five million boxes were sold last year, the Scouts said.

"Maybe the big food conglomerates don't take diacetyl seriously, but
we take it very, very seriously," Weaver said. "We sell popcorn only.
Without it, we're out of business."

ConAgra Foods, which says it is the largest supplier of the 3 billion
bags of microwave popcorn sold worldwide each year, declined to
comment on Pop Weaver's action.

However, in interviews earlier this month, corporate spokeswoman
Stephanie Childs told the Seattle P-I that ConAgra has been "looking
at the diacetyl issue very seriously over the years."

Scientists and consultants for ConAgra, whose brands include Orville
Redenbacher and Act II, found in 2004 that diacetyl was released when
freshly popped bags of corn were opened. However, Childs said that the
company saw no need to change its flavorings.

"Based on all the information we have available to us, we are
confident the everyday, normal use of butter-flavored microwave
popcorn in the home is safe," she said.

But in a November 2004 letter to the EPA, Patricia Verduin, ConAgra's
senior vice president for product quality, wrote: "We believe it is
imperative that the health and safety of this product be assured to
the extent possible within the very near future." In the letter to the
then-head of the EPA's Office of Research and Development, she said
that ConAgra had developed a "Consumer Exposure Risk Index" to address
potential health concerns from material released when the bag of
popped corn is opened.

ConAgra declined to discuss what level of risk it documented to
consumers from vapors from diacetyl, other flavoring ingredients or
the bag itself.

"We shared that information with EPA on a confidential basis and we
look to them for the next step," Childs said. "We, as well as the rest
of the world, are awaiting the release of EPA's study."

But the industry already knows what the EPA found, according to George
Gray, the current head of the EPA's office of Research and
Development. He told the P-I that the popcorn industry was given the
opportunity to review the final results before the study was submitted
for publication.

Gray said there was nothing improper in allowing the industry to
review the findings, saying it was necessary to convince industry that
none of their confidential business information, such as what the
flavoring agents are and the construction of the popping bag, was
released to the public.

Further, Gray said the information could not be released to other
public health professionals because it would prevent his scientists
from getting their work published in peer-reviewed journals.

However, most prominent medical and scientific journals said that
exceptions are always made.

"We're not going to punish researchers for disclosing information that
is of vital interest to the public health," said Karen Pedersen,
manager of media relations for The New England Journal of Medicine.

"EPA cannot be permitted to play these games with matters that are
important to public health. This is just questionable science at its
worst," said David Michaels, director of the Project on Scientific
Knowledge and Public Policy at George Washington University's School
of Public Health. "Diacetyl is a dangerous chemical, declared safe,
for the most part, by the flavoring industry."

The importance of the EPA's findings is increased because no one
outside the industry is examining what consumers and workers who pop
corn in theaters, discount stores, school gyms and fairgrounds are
being exposed to.

Through 2003 and 2004 there was heavy news coverage of federal
occupational health specialists investigating the cases of hundreds of
workers sickened at six Midwest popcorn plants. The National Institute
for Occupational Safety and Health, which investigates worker health
issues, had determined that it was exposure to the vapors from heated
butter flavoring that was debilitating the workers. The most likely
culprit, the health detectives concluded, was the diacetyl in the
flavoring. All of the workers who were diagnosed with bronchiolitis
obliterans or other serious lung injuries worked with the flavoring.

In the midst of this, Jacky Rosati, an investigator from the EPA's
National Risk Management Laboratory in Research Triangle Park, N.C.,
said she would try to determine how much diacetyl consumers might be
exposed to when they popped corn at home.

Rosati and her team, all scientists with the EPA's Indoor
Environmental Management Branch, collected multiple bags of 50 of the
most popular brands of microwave popcorn.

The corn was popped in a specially constructed box containing an old
microwave and air collection filters. Measurements were taken of the
type and concentrations of the chemicals detected in the vapor or
steam released when the bags are opened.

"We said let's look at what goes into the bag, popcorn, chemical
ingredients, materials that coat the bag, and then let's determine
what gets released into the indoor air when you pop it," said Bill
Farland, then the EPA's deputy assistant administrator for science,
research and development.

The final corn was popped and the data collected in the fall of 2005
and Rosati's report was sent to EPA scientists for review.

Meanwhile, more cases of the lung disease were being reported to the
NIOSH. More workers are fighting to get onto lung transplant lists,
which is their only hope for survival. The manager and the owner of a
Detroit company that manufactures popcorn carts were diagnosed. The
death of a man who was Montana's largest popcorn supplier was
attributed to the popcorn flavoring he used. The NIOSH found that his
daughter and son-in-law who took over the family business were also
sickened, this time from the butter-flavored oil they used.

Back at the EPA, Rosati was waiting for industry -- three popcorn
companies and the flavoring trade association -- to complete its
review.

"This is not the way that our government agencies should be protecting
the public's interest," said George Washington's Michaels. "With this
arm-in-arm relationship between government scientists and the industry
using diacetyl, how can the public feel that they are learning the
truth about this chemical which is in thousands of products?"

It had to be done with industry's help, said Farland, who has since
retired. He said he doubted that the EPA would have authorized the
study if Rosati had proposed to do it without industry involvement.

"The only thing that industry got to look for is confidential business
information," said Jennifer Wood, the EPA's press secretary. "They
could make no changes to the findings."

Meanwhile, as the study was being offered to various journals, the
tally of injured workers increased and became more varied. They came
from a candy factory in Chicago, from a Tennessee potato chip company,
and one, then three, and now more than 20 from six different
California companies that made and sold flavorings with diacetyl.
Their physicians say a couple will die because they won't survive the
wait for a transplant. Back in Washington, the EPA says that a
journal, which it declined to identify, will publish Rosati's study
"this fall."

Ultimately, all Rosati can report is the amount of diacetyl and other
chemicals released when the bag is opened. The study wasn't designed
to provide any health-related answers, Gray acknowledged.

Without more knowledge about the toxicity of diacetyl no one can
extrapolate the hazard of what is released when the popcorn is opened,
or from any of the other diacetyl-containing products used in the
home. This is because no one knows specifically what amount of
diacetyl will harm humans. That's likely to remain the case unless the
industry decides to share its knowledge or the FDA reverses course and
decides testing is needed after all.

SECRET INGREDIENTS: A CONTINUING EXAMINATION OF THE SAFETY OF OUR FOOD

WHAT IS DIACETYL?

A naturally occurring substance found in many dairy products and some
wine. It was first produced synthetically in Europe and is added to
thousands of foods throughout the world to increase or enrich butter
flavoring.

WHAT PRODUCTS CONTAIN DIACETYL?

Microwave popcorn, potato chips, baked goods and candies, frozen food,
artificial butter, cooking oils and sprays, beer, dog food and others.

HOW DIACETYL HARMS PEOPLE

Worker hazards: In manufacturing plants, it's been linked to
bronchiolitis obliterans -- irreversible obstructive lung diseases --
for which lung transplants are often the only way to survive. Lawsuits
against diacetyl manufacturers by hundreds of workers in popcorn,
flavoring and other food plants claiming injury from breathing
diacetyl have led to jury awards and settlements of more than $20
million.

Consumer hazards: The Food and Drug Administration and the Consumer
Product Safety Commission have declined to study the impact on
consumers. The Environmental Protection Agency has looked at the
vapors from heated diacetyl as an air pollutant but has not released
the results to the public or to public health professionals.

Pending action: Congress ordered the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration to develop and enforce standards for worker exposure to
diacetyl. In California, legislation has been drafted that would ban
the use of diacetyl by 2010. Rep. Rosa Delauro, D-Conn., has asked the
FDA to ban diacetyl until it can be thoroughly studied.

--
P-I senior correspondent Andrew Schneider can be reached at
206-448-8218