Flavoring Suspected In Illness; CA Considers Banning Chemical Used In Microwave Popcorn

[Hissyspit]

Source: Washington Post

Flavoring Suspected in Illness
Calif. Considers Banning Chemical Used in Microwave Popcorn

By Sonya Geis
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 7, 2007; Page A03

SOUTH GATE, Calif. -- She was once in constant motion; her co-workers compared her to a roadrunner because of the way she darted around the workplace. But now Irma Ortiz sits at the edge of her couch, too winded to sweep her patio or walk her son to school without resting. She is slowly suffocating.

Ortiz, 44, is among a group of California food-flavoring workers recently diagnosed with bronchiolitis obliterans, a rare and life-threatening form of fixed obstructive lung disease. Also known as popcorn workers lung, because it has turned up in workers at microwave-popcorn factories, the disease destroys the lungs. A transplant is the only cure.

Since 2001, academic studies have shown links between the disease and a chemical used in artificial butter flavor called diacetyl. Flavoring manufacturers have paid out more than $100 million as a result of lawsuits by people sick with popcorn workers lung over the past five years. One death from the disease has been confirmed.

But no federal laws regulate the chemical's use. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is still deciding what standards to set for workers who handle it. In late April, the head of OSHA, Assistant Secretary of Labor Edwin G. Foulke Jr., testified before Congress that the agency will begin inspecting microwave-popcorn factories this month.

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Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/06/AR2007050601089.html?hpid=topnews

[Auntie Bush]

1. Damn!

I love butter flavored popcorn. Maybe working with concentrated flavoring is harmful...but hopefully a little now an then in popcorn isn't harmful.

[PSPS]

2. Some background on this unqualified crony heading OSHA

Foulke, a professional Republican, was a partner with the law firm of Jackson Lewis LLP in Greenville, South Carolina. He served as the Chairman of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) from 1990 to 1994, and from 1994 to 1995 as a Commissioner. Foulke was also a member of the Bush/Cheney Transition team for the Labor Department.

Foulke's was also Chairman of the Greenville Country, South Carolina Republican Party, and was a Bush Pioneer which means that he pledged to gather $100,000 for the 2004 Bush campaign. He is also on the Board of Directors of the Republican National Lawyers Association.

When running for a position on the Republican National Committee in 2004, his biographical material included this:

Ed is a life long pro-life, pro-family, social and fiscal conservative Republican. As a true Ronald Reagan Republican, he believes in limited government, lower taxes, a strong national defense and personal responsibility.

Foulke is your typical Republican, frequently wailing over the plight of small business besieged by big bad OSHA inspectors, and extolling the eternal virtues of voluntary programs as the antidote to all that is wrong with the world. He has testified several times on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce on a variety of OSHA issues and written articles warning businesses that the cost of the soon-to-be-repealed ergonomics standard would be "significant and, in some cases, result in severe financial hardship."

[TexasLawyer]

10. limited government

I don't want a "limited government" Reagan Republican running OSHA, or for that matter FEMA, EPA, and other health and safety agencies that MUST be pro-active, and not in the pockets of big business, in order to do their jobs correctly.

Sheesh! What a world!

[diane in sf]

21. Murdering people: very pro-family in that weird Republican way...

[MidwestTransplant]

23. I was wondering. Heck of a job there Brownie.

I figured he may have been an exec at Pop Secret before beginning this gig!

[Marie26]

24. Figures. n/t

[lonestarnot]

32. ack more of the same.

[Liberty Belle]

3. kick! Buy unflavored and add real butter if you must.

[jgraz]

19. George Bush Sucks Ass

Actually, the subject should read "self delete, wrong place", but why waste the post?

[Liberty Belle]

41. That post could apply to every thread in DU.

[mike_c]

4. good lord, workers' lives destroyed so consumers can have their butter flavor...

...without actually lifting a hand to butter their own popcorn, and so the companies making that crap can get richer.

[eppur_se_muova]

5. OSHA taking its time to do nothing ... from Wiki ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diacetyl

"The United States National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has suggested that diacetyl, when used in artificial butter flavoring (as used in microwave popcorn), may be hazardous when heated and inhaled over a long period. Workers in several factories that manufacture artificial butter flavoring have been diagnosed with bronchiolitis obliterans, a rare and serious disease of the lungs. The cases found have been mainly in young, healthy, non-smoking males. There is no cure for bronchiolitis obliterans; treatment is a lung transplant.

While several authorities have called the disease "Popcorn Worker's Lung," a more accurate term suggested by other doctors may be more appropriate, since the disease can occur in any industry working with diacetyl: diacetyl-induced bronchiolitis obliterans. After the workers filed a lawsuit against the manufacturers, the Environmental Protection Agency began an investigation into the chemical properties of microwave popcorn butter flavoring. On July 19, 2005, jurors awarded a popcorn plant worker in Missouri $2.7 million for his claim of diacetyl-induced respiratory problems.

On July 26, 2006, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the United Food and Commercial Workers petitioned the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration to promulgate an emergency temporary standard to protect workers from the deleterious health effects of inhaling diacetyl vapors. The petition was followed by a letter of support signed by more than thirty prominent scientists. The matter is under consideration."

[Marie26]

25. Exactly

"In late April, the head of OSHA, Assistant Secretary of Labor Edwin G. Foulke Jr., testified before Congress that the agency will begin inspecting microwave-popcorn factories this month."

What have they been doing the past six years??

[Mz Pip]

6. Try real popcorn!

I get an 8lb container from Costco that lasts ages. I pop it myself with canola oil (no cholesterol) and add my own salt and butter (!) if I want. It's hella cheap and doesn't have any weird chemicals in it.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[unblock]

8. and it's fun, too!

specially for kids!

[AlCzervik]

9. yes, the old way, tastes the best and is fun to make, actually using the stove!

what a concept! I made some before my daughter got her braces on, after that popcorn was on the banned list but it was a blast making it with her and really it tastes so much better. I can't wait until she gets her braces off, i don't eat what on her banned list, i figure why make her suffer alone.

[Mz Pip]

11. All you have to do is

wash the pot. Which takes about 30 seconds. Big wow. How inconvenient!

I don't get the whole microwave thing with popcorn. Yeah, it's easy but you have no control over the amount of salt or butter you put on it. I like my popcorn the way I like it. Not the way some focus group decides I should like it.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[AlCzervik]

12. see i love the salt but not so much the butter so home made is best, god i miss popcorn.

2 years--waaaaaaa!! Damn kid!

[jgraz]

20. you're forgetting the best part of homemade p-corn

You can use actual COCONUT OIL, just like the old-timey theaters used to before the health police cracked down and made them switch to that oh-so-good-for-you hydrogenated trans-fat.

Nothing is better than popcorn popped in coconut oil, unless it's popcorn popped in coconut oil with a little bacon fat added (see sig).

[diane in sf]

22. I like my hot air popcorn popper.

No high temperature fats--just the gently melted real butter I dump lavishly on top of it!

[alittlelark]

38. That's what I use too - I love my hot-air popper!

Fresh butter, garlic salt....YUMMM!

[alfredo]

27. Put parmesan cheese or brewers yeast on it.

[jgraz]

28. is that before or after adding the salt and butter?

:evilgrin:

[alfredo]

30. Any way you want it. I put it there instead of butter. I go easy on

the salt when I use the cheese.

[lonestarnot]

33. You can buy popcorn salt from the spice aisle.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

31. "weird chemicals"

Actually, diacetyl's a natural product of fermentation. It's a minor but important constituent in beer. Apparently the problem here is inhaling it.

[Megahurtz]

36. Thank God I don't snort Beer.

:evilgrin:

[Trillo]

37. But it's not (brightish) yellow (beta-carotene)

with the distinctive "movie theater" taste -- the flavoring known as "artificial butter flavoring." It took me nearly 40 years to figure out how to make that movie theater kind of popcorn.

The old warning label on tubes of glue probably applies: "Do not deliberately concentrate and inhale".

If it's banned, will movie theaters still be able to use it?

[kath]

40. yep - how damned hard is it to make popcorn from scratch? Takes only a few minutes,

WAY healthier, and costs only pennies per big batch. Also cuts down on all the over-packaging which is filling up our landfills.

Having all these weird-ass chemicals and protein fillers (wheat gluten, corn gluten, rice protein concentrate, etc, etc) in our food is really biting us in the ass. Big time.

[Kurovski]

7. K&R.

[aquart]

13. Does anyone need microwave popcorn? Really?

[KansDem]

26. I'm with you, aquart, and the stench that comes from microwaving it...

I used to work in an office setting where the break room for staff just reeked of this crap all afternoon! It got to the point I couldn't go into the break room anymore because the stench was awful.

And my colleagues wondered why I took breaks and lunch in my cube...

[Xmark]

29. The smell is so strong

Even if someone loves popcorn (like me), the strong butter smell from the microwave is almost overwhelming.

There's nothing like corn popped on the stove in some oil, and sprinkled with some salt and butter. it really doesn't take that much time to do it by scratch, either.

[KansDem]

35. That's how my family likes it...

...corn popped on the stove in some oil, and sprinkled with some salt and butter.

Ahhh, reminds me of "movie night" at the KansDem household! :9

Welcome to DU, Xmark!
:dem:

[Triana]

14. It took them SIX YEARS to get off their dead a$$ and DO

some investigating?!

THIS has the mark of a bu$hit maladministration all over it.

:mad:

[lligrd]

16. Exactly, I read about this long ago

and can't believe it has taken this long to do something. And what are the effects on the consumers?

[Sabriel]

34. And that's the moment I quit micro popcorn

The details of the symptoms sort of killed it for me.

[hibbing]

15. whirlypop

I love popcorn but I rarely eat the nuked stuff, about two handfuls and I am sick of it. I am not affiliated with the maker of this product at all, but try a whirlypop. You can make a gigantic bowl of popcorn with a teaspoon of oil in like around 5 minutes. It is awesome.

It is called the Whirlypop, not sure about the rules of posting websites but will try it. popcornpopper.com

Peace,
Tim

[DBoon]

17. A government small enough to drown in a bathtub

is responsible for the terrible deaths of these workers.

The dreams of right-wing ideologues is the death of ordinary citizens.

[Bozita]

18. Yup, Bush has turned Grover Norquist's ultimate fantasy into reality

Once upon a time, I had a Detroit friend who bought his food in Windsor, Ontario, markets.

I'm thinking of doing it now.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

39. Just Wanted To Clarify To Anyone Who Doesn't Know That Microwave Popcorn Is 100% Safe For Consumers.

The risks associated with Diacetyl are only relevant within the manufacturing process itself when exposed to large concentrations of the chemical through inhalation. There definitely needs to be some protective equipment worn and they need to establish proper protocols for handling the material. But to anyone who reads that article and thinks for a second that they should avoid microwave popcorn for this reason, I wanted to clarify that there is zero risk to the consumer from this flavoring ingredient.

I actually have Diacetyl at my work and know of it well. We don't use it in anywhere near the concentration that would put our workers at risk though.