FDA takes look into soft drinks

FDA takes look into soft drinks
http://www.newsobserver.com/105/story/413086.html
Suzanne Havala Hobbs, Correspondent
Could soft drinks be causing cancer? It's a question that deserves
attention following the disclosure that some soft drinks contain the
cancer-causing chemical benzene.

It's news that hasn't gotten much attention.

But a science administrator at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
confirmed for me that recent government tests found benzene in soft
drinks purchased off grocery store shelves. Long-term exposure to
benzene is associated with higher rates of leukemia.

What makes this situation scandalous is the fact that FDA knew about
the issue 14 years ago. The agency left it to industry to address the
problem.

Even now, FDA says it prefers that industry voluntarily get benzene out
of our colas.

How is benzene getting into soft drinks?

It forms when sodium benzoate, used in soft drinks to inhibit the
growth of bacteria, reacts with ascorbic acid, also called vitamin C.

Glen Lawrence, now a biochemist and professor at Long Island
University, performed the FDA tests that documented the problem in the
early 1990s when he worked for the agency as a science adviser.

"People at FDA who were testing foods told me they found benzene in
orange soda," Lawrence told me in a telephone interview. "I said, 'I
think it must be coming from the sodium benzoate.'"

Lawrence said he was able to demonstrate that sodium benzoate and
ascorbic acid in soft drinks reacted to form benzene. He published his
findings in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry in 1993.

Industry agreed at the time to spread the word among drink
manufacturers and to reformulate products, reported the online trade
publication BeverageDaily.com.

Follow-up tests found no benzene in soft drinks.

But that has changed.

"An issue we thought went away in the 1990s has come back," said George
Pauli, associate director of science and policy in the FDA's Office of
Food Additive Safety.

FDA officials were recently alerted to the problem by a lawyer in New
York who has campaigned to remove soft drinks from public schools.
BeverageDaily.com reported in February that a former soft drink
industry scientist turned whistle-blower helped organize private tests
that rediscovered the problem.

The FDA responded by going shopping, Pauli said. Researchers went to a
grocery store, bought some sodas and tested them for benzene.

"We found occasional levels significantly higher than expected," Pauli
said.

How much benzene is too much?

The federal standard for benzene in drinking water is 5 parts per
billion. The soft drink samples recently tested by FDA contained
amounts higher than that, Pauli said.

There is no federal standard for benzene in soft drinks aside from the
one used for water.

Pauli said that, since the BeverageDaily.com report, he has received
calls from industry representatives about the situation.

"It's got the soft drink industry's attention," he said. "I expect
they're looking at this now."

Soft drink industry representatives did not return a phone call seeking
comment on this column.

Pauli said he expects FDA will take action, but the agency prefers to
seek voluntary action from industry. He says voluntary agreements often
can be reached faster than instituting new regulations.

Pauli makes a valid point. But this is a problem that was first
discovered almost 15 years ago. It's not good enough for our government
to rely on unannounced, voluntary agreements with industry
representatives to remove a cancer-causing chemical from such a widely
consumed product as soft drinks.

Our elected representatives in Congress and in the executive branch
should ask hard questions about why regulations have not been
established requiring reformulation of drinks to prevent the creation
of benzene.

In the meantime, readers may want to scrutinize drink labels and avoid
products that contain both sodium benzoate and ascorbic acid.

Lawrence says industry shouldn't include the two ingredients in any of
their products.

"If they know this has a chance to form benzene, they should leave it
out," he said.

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History and Origin of Benzene in Soft Drinks
http://www.schoolpouringrights.com