2 Million Commercial Cooks Could Be Exposed to Deadly ‘Popcorn Lung’

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/01/04/2-million-commercial-cooks-could-be-exposed-to-deadly-popcorn-lung/

by Mike Hall, Jan 4, 2008

An extensive investigation by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer finds the threat diacetyl poses to workers may be more widespread than previously thought.



We’ve reported on the dangers that diacetyl, an artificial flavor additive used in microwave popcorn and other processed foods, presents to workers. The butter-flavored additive can cause bronchiolitis obliterans, a severe illness known as “popcorn lung.”

Over the past seven years, hundreds of workers in plants where diacetyl is produced or applied to food have developed the rare and sometimes fatal disease. Popcorn lung has been tied to three deaths and serious illness in at least 200 people. So far, doctors have not found a way to reverse the symptoms. A lung transplant is the only option after the symptoms set in.

But the newspaper study found that as many as 2 million commercial cooks could be exposed to dangerous levels of diacetyl from the butter substitutes used on grills, skillets and other cooking surfaces. As these substitutes heat up during the cooking process, they release diacetyl vapors, sometimes in astonishingly high amounts that match exposure levels in diacetyl manufacturing plants, according to tests conducted for the paper.

The Bush administration’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) refused in September to issue an emergency standard setting diacetyl exposure limits for workers. But several large popcorn manufacturers have announced they are removing the chemical from their products.

The next day, the U.S. House passed a bill that requires OSHA to set an exposure standard but the Senate has yet to act. Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, told the paper:

OSHA must immediately stop dragging its feet and take urgent action to protect all workers whose lives could be at risk because of exposure to diacetyl.

Click here for more from the Post-Intelligencer: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/344277_diacetyl21.html?source=mypi

I just want to say I appreciate your worker-focused posts. Thank you.

:kick:

Presumed "safe" until proven unsafe... We're lab rats

or corn oil or olive oil. i trust nature.

corn oil now is from GM crops, and all corn products, including oil, do nasty things to my blood sugar. It's the most bizarre thing ever. I grew up eating the stuff and now the only corn I eat is from heritage seed...and I can still eat that.

The worse stuff for diabetics type 1 or type 2. There ought to be a revolt...no wonder we become sick.

i went to a party over the holidaze. I was talking to this woman about this very thing, only popcorn based (the hosts served microwave popcorn) and her boyfriend got all in my face about it. Stop talking politics and you can't do anything about this kind of thing etc. really really pissed off, thought for a minute that I would ahve to fight him in fact.

Guess what? he is a cook.

white popcorn ... it's a whole grain dontchaknow :popcorn:

I freakin' HATE the smell of that microwave popcorn. :puke:

--someone is making money.