Editorial, Benzene in Soft Drinks, Kansas City Star

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansas...n/14026654.htm

Benzene in soft drinks
Question of safety gets downplayed

The discovery of trace amounts of benzene, a chemical linked to cancer,
in some soft drinks raises considerable concern. And that concern is
aggravated by the fact that federal officials have been keeping the
public in the dark on this issue for a decade and a half.

As a story in The Kansas City Star reported on Saturday, there were
problems about benzene in some soft drinks 16 years ago. The beverage
industry assured government officials the problems would be fixed, and
that apparently was good enough for the Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA never told the public.

Thanks only to the curiosity of someone concerned about soft drinks in
the schools, however, the benzene problem has resurfaced. And the
levels of the chemical in some of these drinks are even higher than
what was found in 1990.

The interaction of certain soft-drink ingredients can lead to the
presence of benzene, which has been linked to certain types of cancers.

The industry and the FDA are now downplaying the soft-drink problem,
emphasizing that small amounts of the chemical have been found.

But "small" is a relative term; some drinks had two to four times
the level of benzene that the Environmental Protection Agency considers
acceptable in drinking water. That's troubling, particularly when
many Americans - including children - sometimes seem to be drinking
more soft drinks than water.

Nor is there much comfort to be found in the words of Kevin Keane, a
spokesman for the American Beverage Association. "People shouldn't
overreact," he said. "It's a very small number of products and
not major brands."

If you happen to be one of the people using these particular products,
of course, a certain amount of "overreaction" to the situation
might seem natural. Because as one official with a nonprofit research
group put it so well: "Most people would prefer there are no known
human carcinogens in what they drink."

Federal officials charged with ensuring the safety of foods and drinks
might want to keep that thought in mind.

There's a natural curiosity as to which products, exactly, Keane was
referring to. But he was not forthcoming on this point. Neither were
some major soft drink companies, which simply referred questions to the
industry association.

The federal government and the industry should move as quickly as
possible to determine the current extent of the problem - and to
provide the public with more information about it.

If federal officials had let consumers know about the benzene problems
that occurred long ago, after all, it seems safe to assume that in the
years that followed there would have been greater vigilance all the way
around.

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

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http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansas...n/14026654.htm

Benzene in soft drinks
Question of safety gets downplayed

The discovery of trace amounts of benzene, a chemical linked to cancer,
in some soft drinks raises considerable concern. And that concern is
aggravated by the fact that federal officials have been keeping the
public in the dark on this issue for a decade and a half.


A bit more on the source of the benzene

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...065539,00.html
"Food scientists believe that high levels of benzene may have been produced
by the reaction of two commonly used ingredients - sodium benzoate, a
preservative, and ascorbic acid (vitamin C)."

"He said that drinks firms were now putting vitamin C back into drinks to
encourage consumers to buy the product. He said that this was being done to
encourage parents to buy the drinks to improve their children's health but
it might just be doing the opposite."