Evidence is mounting that food packaging and plastic tableware contain toxic chemicals absorbed by humans, a public health risk largely ignored by federal officials charged with protecting the nation’s food supply. During the past week alone, a new study detailed how more than 3,600 chemicals in food-related materials have been detected in people worldwide. A companion review of recently published research confirmed 189 chemicals linked to breast cancer have been found in the materials, 76 of which migrate out of packaging and utensils during normal use.
Many of these chemicals were approved decades ago by the Food and Drug Administration with little, if any, oversight. “Some have never been reviewed by the FDA at all because food and chemical companies are exploiting a loophole that lets them, rather than the FDA, decide whether a chemical is safe,” said Melanie Benesh, vice president for government affairs at the Environmental Working Group, one of several nonprofit organizations that have repeatedly petitioned the FDA to ban toxic substances in food and packaging. “It’s no surprise that consumer confidence in food chemical safety is falling,” Benesh said.
Years of legal and political pressure are just now forcing changes in an arm of the government long dominated by industry priorities rather than public health concerns. After decades of denial, the FDA is vowing to overhaul its review processes and conduct more rigorous reviews of food chemicals already on the.
