[csda] More RE: FDA re-opens probe into benzene contamination of soft drinks (fwd)

[Guest guest]

Subject: [csda] More RE: FDA re-opens probe into benzene contamination of soft

drinks

The Environmental Working Group has a couple of pages on the formation of

benzene in certain soft drinks. Sample from:

http://www.ewg.org/issues/toxics/20060228/index.php

" Children's Drinks Contain Ingredients That Can Form Benzene

FDA silent despite of knowledge of the problem

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

with Benzene

(WASHINGTON, Feb 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. "