Microwave Buttered Popcorn is slowly killing its workers

[IChing]

SOUTH GATE, Calif. -- She was once in constant motion; her co-workers compared her to a roadrunner because of the way she darted around the workplace. But now Irma Ortiz sits at the edge of her couch, too winded to sweep her patio or walk her son to school without resting. She is slowly suffocating.

Ortiz, 44, is among a group of California food-flavoring workers recently diagnosed with bronchiolitis obliterans, a rare and life-threatening form of fixed obstructive lung disease. Also known as popcorn workers lung, because it has turned up in workers at microwave-popcorn factories, the disease destroys the lungs. A transplant is the only cure.

Since 2001, academic studies have shown links between the disease and a chemical used in artificial butter flavor called diacetyl. Flavoring manufacturers have paid out more than $100 million as a result of lawsuits by people sick with popcorn workers lung over the past five years. One death from the disease has been confirmed.

"It's not some carcinogen where you get cancer 30 years from now or something. The people are dying right in front of you," Michaels said. "You can't wait until you have all the evidence. You have to regulate it."

Even less is known about the health effects of eating diacetyl in butter-flavored popcorn, or breathing the fumes after the bag is microwaved. The Environmental Protection Agency has studied the fumes but is waiting for the industry to review the study before releasing it. The Food and Drug Administration has diacetyl on its list of substances "generally recognized as safe" but has not studied it.

>>>>snip

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/06/AR2007050601089.html?referrer=reddit

[Bluebear]

1. For this, I quit smoking?

All the lifestyle changes I made an BOOM! Eating popcorn will be my undoing!

k/r

[Cha]

13. Not just any popcorn!

It's all those chemicals the fda hasn't had time to study on cause they're too busy tryin' to bust up natural healing sources.

I really feel for these people..who knew? We're finding out more and more that our bodies don't like to have Mother Nature messed with.

Real Popcorn is so good..they didn't need to mess with it. :popcorn: :popcorn: :9

[Bluebear]

14. Back to real popcorn for me!

Someone at work is always popping microwave popcorn, it's easy, it's there.... who knew??

[Cha]

16. That's what DU is for!~

:toast: to real :popcorn:!~

Save :popcorn: for your DVDs~ B-)

[TygrBright]

2. Boy, am I glad I gave that stuff up a few years ago...

How hard is it to pull out a pan, pour in a little nice unrefined peanut oil, some organic popcorn, and pop yerself up a real treat?

We're conveniencing ourselves to death.

sadly,
Bright

[blogslut]

9. It's even easier

To make DIY microwave popcorn without all the bogus ingredients:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_14234,00.html

[kestrel91316]

20. Worse yet, we're killing OTHERS for the sake of our own convenience.

I don't do microwave popcorn anymore.

Skillet, popcorn (white hulless or other heirloom),canola oil or lard, turn on the heat, shake 'er up, season and eat.

[malaise]

22. That's the only popcorn I eat

I rarely use our microwave.

[Christa]

3. My question is

how healthy is the popcorn?

Btw; this is extremely worrying - how can it be allowed? :cry:

[RaleighNCDUer]

4. I KNEW there was a good reason to keep making it the way I have for

40 years - cover the bottom of a 2qt pan with a layer of oil, and pop the corn on the stove, then pour a nice coating of butter and salt all over it. When I go it's going to be with the traditional clogged arteries!

[Morgana LaFey]

19. Amen!

And it tastes better, too. Heck, I might have to make myself some tonight.

[DeSwiss]

5. They said:

"The Food and Drug Administration has diacetyl on its list of substances "generally recognized as safe"

Recognized as safe by whom????

[Morgana LaFey]

18. Its manufacturer(s), of course. nt

[kestrel91316]

21. Well, that would be for EATING, not for BREATHING.

[mike_c]

6. the solution to this problem is so simple....

1) pop popcorn on the stove or in an air popper;

2) melt butter;

3) pour (2) over (1), stir and enjoy.

Don't buy "food" that has ingredients you can't pronounce.

[Bjornsdotter]

7. Sounds similar

...to what candy workers used to get before they were told to wear masks. they had lung issues from the fine sugar used in candy making.

This needs to stop now. Glad I never eat the stuff, I'm probably the only one here who hates popcorn. I can't even stand the smell.

Cheers

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

12. They had a similar problem with sand.

People who work with industrial volumes of sand inhaled the dust, getting silicosis, and ultimately lung cancer. If you buy sand from a chemical supplier there's a warning label that says it's carcinogenic. Even though it's just sand.

[bleedingheart]

37. I worked in an industrial china factory...we made plates

and silicosis is a very real danger ...we wore ventilators...

and when you were not in danger of the silica....there was always the lead glazing area...and the chemicals we used to paint pretty pictures on the plates....

[WinkyDink]

29. Two of us!

[Bjornsdotter]

30. Really?

I've never met anyone else who felt the same way. I'm so happy!

:hug:

[Kelly Rupert]

8. Can't stand the stuff.

Air popped all the way.

[Mojambo]

10. Man, I've never even heard of this.

Pretty scary. I eat A LOT of microwave pop corn.

It never ends!

[DemGa]

11. Never eat that fake crap

Btw, I use a little olive oil in a pot to make popcorn. Works great!

[Cha]

15. Sage advice, dude!~

"Never eat that fake crap"!

I use flax oil after an airpopper and nutritional yeast. :P

[glitch]

33. Me too! Except I use olive oil not flax, and the brewers yeast buds make it wonderful. nt

[Cha]

34. So we just differ on the

kind of oil~ :popcorn: :hi: :popcorn:

[glitch]

36. Only because I don't happen to have flax oil handy!

:hi:

[lazer47]

17. I grow my own, and it doesn't take a lot

[gollygee]

23. Popcorn is really easy to make the old-fashioned way

wow I had no idea this stuff was hurting people like that. My sister has a bad allergic reaction to microwave buttered popcorn - she has coughing fits. I wonder if it's related.

[bleedingheart]

38. her reaction is more than likely an allergy

the problem the describe is probably because the chemical is sprayed on the corn kernels and when it goes airborne...it is inhaled...


No matter the substance...inhaling anything in mass quantities other than the air we breathe is bad ...

silica (china workers get silicosis...)
coal dust (coalminers get black lung)
fabric particles (industrial weavers get brown lung)
metallic dust (steelworkers get red lung)

hell breathing in too much wheat dust will kill you too...

[whistle]

24. I buy bulk popping corn and make my own. I have never liked microwave

...especially the way the room smells after it has been popped in the microwave. Now we learn it has been killing people and the FDA never required safety testing of the toxic chemical that they allowed to be used

[BlooInBloo]

25. "You can't wait until you have all the evidence." Aaah. Gotta love America...

... Maybe the final evidence will come in the form of a mushroom cloud?

[donco6]

26. It aggravates my sister's diverticulitis.

She has no problem with the regular pan-popped corn.

[Generator]

27. Wow this brings back the office days

EVERYONE was always eating the microwave popcorn. All the ladies on diets, always with the fake buttered microwave popcorn. (I just had a rice cake flashback!) Anyway-I haven't had an office job since 1999 but I can still smell it! The ONE office microwave always in use. Always the popcorn. Was it bad back then too?

And I haven't had any microwave popcorn since then-and I never much liked it then either. I have thought of doing "Jiffy pop" for the kids but never have-is it safe??????:shrug:

[Warren DeMontague]

28. "Generally Recognized As Safe" = "Can't Be Used For Birth Control"

I keep sayin'... the only thing the Glassy-eyed fundy Jesus Goons bush has put in charge of the FDA give a shit about is keeping new or better forms of birth control off the market. "Food Safety" isn't on their radar screen.

[Cobalt-60]

31. My microwave popper will pop any corn

its a plastic tub with a little grey reflective cup in the bottom. No fluids needed.
Synthetic Butter smells like refried vomit. And it goes on stinking for days.
There is no substitute for real butter on popcorn.

[in_cog_ni_to]

32. What about Movie Popcorn?? I wonder if the same chemical is in the butter they use? That's a solid

'butter' they melt at the theaters, isn't it? No more microwave popcorn in this house! I'm going completely organic. I've had enough of this crap. I'm poisoning myself and my family and taking a chance on my dog's food now IF it's not from a reputable organic company! It's as plain as the nose on my face...we cannot depend on this government to protect us from ANYTHING........ We're on our own. Corporations and their chemicals are more important than people.

[piedmont]

35. !

:popcorn: :evilgrin: