b'SENSE, NONSENSE AND SCIENCEBY: JOE SCHWARCZTO WORRY OR NOT TO WORRY? THAT IS THE QUESTION.T hree thousand six hundred foodfor possible carcinogenic, endocrine andin shampoos? Mercury in our dental fillings? packaging chemicals detected inmetabolism disrupting effects with someOr in fish? Mycotoxins in cereal? E. coli in human bodies: How reheatingdisturbing results. But these studies havemeat? Listeria in cold cuts? Salmonella in food is killing us. That was the headlinemostly used cell cultures and animals.eggs? Parabens in cosmetics? Acrylamide that greeted me last week from one of theHuman epidemiological studies have alsoin potato chips? Pesticide residues on fruit? news services to which I subscribe. Thereassociated some of these chemicals withTheres more. Titanium dioxide nanoparti-were many others in the same vein. I knewmedical conditions, but of course associa- cles in sun protection products. UV expo-that a slew of emails from worried peopletion is not the same as causation. sure if we dont use sun protection products. would follow wanting to know what toKnowing that 14,000 chemicals mayHigh fructose corn syrup. Chlorine in baby make of this. After all, nobody wants theirbe present in food contact materials is onecarrots. Petrolatum in skin, lip and hair obituary to state, killed by reheating food. thing, but it is the number that end upproducts. If all of this drives you to drink, The actual title of the paper pub- in our body that is of interest. Thats thewell reconsider, because ethanol is a known lished in the Journal of Exposure Science andquestion that the authors of the paper thatcarcinogen!Environmental Epidemiology was Evidencegenerated the headlines tackled. They scru- Whats the point? There are scientific for widespread human exposure to foodtinized five biomonitoring programs thatpapers published about all these concerns, contact chemicals. It is no secret that ourhad analyzed blood and urine samples fromoften prompting alarmist headlines. The food and beverages meet up with numerousthousands of people for a range of chemi- fact is that we are exposed to a vast array food contact materials before they contactcals and also examined worldwide databasesof potential toxins in various combinations, our lips. During production they can passthat have compiled data from a variety ofand it is essentially impossible to know what through plastic or metal pipes and encounterstudies investigating human exposure toeffects they have in the doses to which we are various types of processing machinery, rang- potential toxins. In all, some 3600 foodexposed. Of course, efforts should be made ing from slicers and dicers to conveyor belts.contact chemicals were identified as havingto reduce exposure to substances like bisphe-They are then packaged in glass, paper, plas- been detected in human bodies and aboutnol A, phthalates and pesticides that have a tic or metal containers that feature an assort- 150 of these are judged to be of concerntoxic cloud hanging over their heads. But this ment of inks and adhesives. Food contactbased on cell culture and animal data. needs to be addressed at the manufacturing materials themselves have to be produced,What are we to make of this? I justlevel. Consumers can drive themselves crazy and that involves a very large number ofdont know. We are exposed on a regularby trying to avoid toxins and the associated chemicals. There are remnants of the mon- basis to thousands and thousands of chem- stress is certainly detrimental to health.omers used to make the polymers as well asicals from personal care products, clean- As far as reheating food killing us various polymer degradation products.ing agents, air pollutants, medications,goes, there is no mention of any such thing Around 14,000 chemicals have beenfood and water. A classic example is coffeein the paper about food contact chemicals. found to be present in food contact materi- with over a thousand compounds present,The headline writer probably remembered als. There is no question that some of theseincluding carcinogens such as acrylamide,something about chemicals leeching out chemicals can migrate into foods and bev- furfural and benzopyrene, yet coffee doesfrom plastics in the microwave. Indeed, it erages, however, it must be rememberednot cause cancer. Even with carcinogens,is good advice to use glass or ceramic in the that the presence of a chemical cannot bedose matters. microwave but suggesting that reheating equated to the presence of risk. Besides these food contact chemicalsfood precipitates an appointment with the A number of these food contact chem- invading our body there are so many otherGrim Reaper is alarmist nonsense.icals have been studied in terms of theirthings to worry about. Arsenic in rice? How potential toxicity. For example, aluminium,about phthalates? They are in our showerJoe Schwarcz PhD is Director, McGill bisphenol A, phthalates and perfluoroalkylcurtain, nail polish and our childrens PVCUniversity Office for Science and Society, substances (PFAS) have been investigatedduckies. How about sodium lauryl sulphateMontreal, QC, Canada.MAY 2025|SEEDWORLD.COM/EUROPEISEED WORLD EUROPE I 21'