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beetigerThe big news in several of the communities I frequent is this: two studies have been recently released showing that there is mercury in much of the high fructose corn syrup being used in industrial food processing in this country, and that it's making it in detectable amounts into foods like pop tarts, granola bars, and soda.
First of all, for those who like these sorts of things, links to the primary research. The research is solid insofar as spot sampling can be, in my opinion, though the researchers' recommendations are of course not actually part of the research.
It's known how the mercury would be getting into the syrup: the alkali used to break down the corn as part of the process is produced in chlorine processing plants using mercury cells. In fact, this study started as an exploration of what the heck was happening to large amounts of mercury that was going missing (not being recovered) each year during these industrial processes. So it's back 2 levels from the big food companies, who very well might not have been aware of the issue.
These studies were done in 2005, and the corn syrup lobby says that this data is "outdated" as new processes have been put in place in the last few years. There's no way at this moment to know for sure. The researcher who just published this work was at FDA when she did it, and is now retired; why FDA didn't act on this earlier is a disturbing question.
There's a mercury-free process for producing the alkali that is available and being used in a majority of US plants, but there are right now at least 4 major plants still using the mercury process.
The (relatively) good news is that back in 2007, then-Senator Obama tried to put a bill in place phasing out the use of mercury in chlorine-alkali plants by 2012. The bill failed, but it's good to know that our new President was actually aware of this issue before today. I suspect we'll see a similar bill reappearing soon.
I really don't know if the fact that this can probably be solved in the moderate term without needing to topple the juggernaut that is the subsidized corn industry is good or bad. I'm pretty disturbed at the industry's choice to minimize the issue rather than to agree to actively be part of the solution. In any case, our household's probably going to lay off the NutriGrain bars for a bit. If I'm going to be putting myself at risk anyway, I'd rather have tekka maki.
First of all, for those who like these sorts of things, links to the primary research. The research is solid insofar as spot sampling can be, in my opinion, though the researchers' recommendations are of course not actually part of the research.
It's known how the mercury would be getting into the syrup: the alkali used to break down the corn as part of the process is produced in chlorine processing plants using mercury cells. In fact, this study started as an exploration of what the heck was happening to large amounts of mercury that was going missing (not being recovered) each year during these industrial processes. So it's back 2 levels from the big food companies, who very well might not have been aware of the issue.
These studies were done in 2005, and the corn syrup lobby says that this data is "outdated" as new processes have been put in place in the last few years. There's no way at this moment to know for sure. The researcher who just published this work was at FDA when she did it, and is now retired; why FDA didn't act on this earlier is a disturbing question.
There's a mercury-free process for producing the alkali that is available and being used in a majority of US plants, but there are right now at least 4 major plants still using the mercury process.
The (relatively) good news is that back in 2007, then-Senator Obama tried to put a bill in place phasing out the use of mercury in chlorine-alkali plants by 2012. The bill failed, but it's good to know that our new President was actually aware of this issue before today. I suspect we'll see a similar bill reappearing soon.
I really don't know if the fact that this can probably be solved in the moderate term without needing to topple the juggernaut that is the subsidized corn industry is good or bad. I'm pretty disturbed at the industry's choice to minimize the issue rather than to agree to actively be part of the solution. In any case, our household's probably going to lay off the NutriGrain bars for a bit. If I'm going to be putting myself at risk anyway, I'd rather have tekka maki.
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no subject
Date: 2009-01-28 12:35 pm (UTC)It's so troubling to me that the USDA didn't act on this data.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-29 01:10 am (UTC)All this fear-mongering is put out there by the sugar industry anyhow. The most heavily subsidized crop in the world. They take your tax-payer supported money and buy crap studies like this to scare you away from any alternatives.