EPA studies microwave popcorn chemicals | St Louis Post-Dispatch

[Ediacara]

EPA studies microwave popcorn chemicals
By Sara Shipley
Of the Post Dispatch 2004, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
03/06/2004


EPA investigators Ken Krebs and Jacky
Rosati decided to pursue their study
after hearing a presentation on sick
popcorn workers in 2002.
(Photo by Julie Graber/P-D)

The Environmental Protection Agency is testing microwave popcorn to find out what chemicals are released when a bag of popcorn is popped or opened.

Vapors from a butter flavoring used in microwave popcorn have been linked to severe lung damage in dozens of people who work in microwave popcorn plants around the country, including in Missouri and Illinois.

Federal officials have said there is no evidence that consumers face a health risk from microwave popcorn. Until now, no one has directly studied the issue.

Environmental scientist Jacky Rosati, one of EPA's principal investigators, said she decided to pursue the study after hearing a presentation on the sick popcorn workers at a medical conference in 2002.

More at the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch

[Florida_Geek]

1. Jacky Rosati soon to be unemployeed. nt

[RoadRunner]

2. Yeah, that's a real big threat <sarcasm>

Global warming, no problem. Mercury in water, A-OK. Asbestos, please. But popcorn vapors, let's get right on that one.

[RoadRunner]

3. On second thought,

I bet they're fishing for campaign contributions from Jolly Time and Orvile what's his name.

[drthais]

4. wait just a minute

ok, so it's not mercury in the water

but ALL of it is bad
Americans are SO uninformed
about the things they digest
and even the way they heat up their food!

[UpInArms]

5. this has been a problem for a long time

here's an article from 2002

http://www.usatoday.com/money/general/2002/06/20/popcorn-factory.htm

JASPER, Mo. — When the days turn humid in this farming town, the air becomes thick with the smell of butter from the Gilster-Mary Lee plant, a microwave-popcorn factory and one of the area's largest employers. At night, when the buildings' lights are ablaze, some residents say they've seen a yellowish cloud emanate from the building and fill the dark sky. For years, no one here complained much about the odor or the fumes, figuring those were harmless prices to pay for prosperity. But a growing number of workers say the cause of that aroma is destroying their lungs. Some former workers are afflicted with a rare lung disease believed to be caused by inhaling a substance never suspected as an on-the-job hazard: the butter flavoring in microwave popcorn.

The national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which has dispatched investigators here and to similar plants elsewhere in the country, suspects this might be a new occupational illness that could be afflicting employees at other food plants nationwide.

This is a behind-the-scenes look at the federal investigators' search for a potential new workplace disease — dubbed Popcorn Packers' Lung by the doctors who first identified these cases.

The disease is lethal and irreversible, doctors say. At least 30 former employees at the plant here have severe breathing problems, and nearly all may eventually need new lungs, according to a lawsuit filed by workers and lawyers on the case. Four have been accepted on lung transplant lists, and doctors say some are functioning on less than a third of a working lung.

...more...

it's appalling that it has taken this long to get anyone's attention to the problem.

[donco6]

6. My sister's doctor told her . . .

. . . to avoid MW popcorn, as it is believed to aggravate her diverticulitis. Regular popcorn is OK, just microwaved - odd, no?