A Newly Discovered Reason to Avoid Fast Food and Popcorn
Perfluoroalkyls, which are chemicals used to keep grease from leaking through fast food wrappers, are being ingested by people through their food and showing up as contaminants in blood.
Perfluoroalkyls are stable, synthetic chemicals that repel oil, grease, and water. They are used in surface protection treatments and coatings for packages.
The specific chemicals studied were polyfluoroalkyl phosphate esters (PAPs), which are the breakdown products of the perfluorinated carboxylic acids used in coating the food wrappers.
Perfluoroalkyls Used in Fast Food Wrappers Show Up in Human Blood
Regulators' Assumptions Proven All Wrong Again!
Three years ago, environmental chemists Scott Mabury and Jessica D'eon established that food wrappers are indeed a source of perfluorinated chemicals, specifically polyfluoroalkyl phosphate esters, known as PAPs.
PAPs are byproducts of perfluorinated carboxylic acids (PFCAs, which include PFOA), which are commonly used to coat different types of food wrappers.
In this study, the pair shows that these chemicals can, and do, transfer from the wrappers into the food, and that food wrappers are in fact a source of human exposure to PFCAs, including PFOA.
According to Madbury, our regulators made three assumptions about these chemicals, all of which have now been proven wrong:
The chemicals will not migrate from the paper into the food
The chemicals will not become available to your body
Your body will not process these chemicals.
McDonald's, Pepsi, KFC Tapped To Help Write UK Obesity, Alcohol
The Department of Health is putting the fast food companies McDonald's and KFC and processed food and drink manufacturers such as PepsiCo, Kellogg's, Unilever, Mars and Diageo at the heart of writing government policy on obesity, alcohol and diet-related disease, the Guardian has learned.
In an overhaul of public health, said by campaign groups to be the equivalent of handing smoking policy over to the tobacco industry, health secretary Andrew Lansley has set up five "responsibility deal" networks with business, co-chaired by ministers, to come up with policies. Some of these are expected to be used in the public health white paper due in the next month.
The groups are dominated by food and alcohol industry members, who have been invited to suggest measures to tackle public health crises. Working alongside them are public interest health and consumer groups including Which?, Cancer Research UK and the Faculty of Public Health. The alcohol responsibility deal network is chaired by the head of the lobby group the Wine and Spirit Trade Association. The food network to tackle diet and health problems includes processed food manufacturers, fast food companies, and Compass, the catering company famously pilloried by Jamie Oliver for its school menus of turkey twizzlers. The food deal's sub-group on calories is chaired by PepsiCo, owner of Walkers crisps.Policy
McDonald's and PepsiCo to help write UK health policy | Politics | The Guardian
Who Is writing our laws?
Perfluoroalkyls, which are chemicals used to keep grease from leaking through fast food wrappers, are being ingested by people through their food and showing up as contaminants in blood.
Perfluoroalkyls are stable, synthetic chemicals that repel oil, grease, and water. They are used in surface protection treatments and coatings for packages.
The specific chemicals studied were polyfluoroalkyl phosphate esters (PAPs), which are the breakdown products of the perfluorinated carboxylic acids used in coating the food wrappers.
Perfluoroalkyls Used in Fast Food Wrappers Show Up in Human Blood
Regulators' Assumptions Proven All Wrong Again!
Three years ago, environmental chemists Scott Mabury and Jessica D'eon established that food wrappers are indeed a source of perfluorinated chemicals, specifically polyfluoroalkyl phosphate esters, known as PAPs.
PAPs are byproducts of perfluorinated carboxylic acids (PFCAs, which include PFOA), which are commonly used to coat different types of food wrappers.
In this study, the pair shows that these chemicals can, and do, transfer from the wrappers into the food, and that food wrappers are in fact a source of human exposure to PFCAs, including PFOA.
According to Madbury, our regulators made three assumptions about these chemicals, all of which have now been proven wrong:
The chemicals will not migrate from the paper into the food
The chemicals will not become available to your body
Your body will not process these chemicals.
McDonald's, Pepsi, KFC Tapped To Help Write UK Obesity, Alcohol
The Department of Health is putting the fast food companies McDonald's and KFC and processed food and drink manufacturers such as PepsiCo, Kellogg's, Unilever, Mars and Diageo at the heart of writing government policy on obesity, alcohol and diet-related disease, the Guardian has learned.
In an overhaul of public health, said by campaign groups to be the equivalent of handing smoking policy over to the tobacco industry, health secretary Andrew Lansley has set up five "responsibility deal" networks with business, co-chaired by ministers, to come up with policies. Some of these are expected to be used in the public health white paper due in the next month.
The groups are dominated by food and alcohol industry members, who have been invited to suggest measures to tackle public health crises. Working alongside them are public interest health and consumer groups including Which?, Cancer Research UK and the Faculty of Public Health. The alcohol responsibility deal network is chaired by the head of the lobby group the Wine and Spirit Trade Association. The food network to tackle diet and health problems includes processed food manufacturers, fast food companies, and Compass, the catering company famously pilloried by Jamie Oliver for its school menus of turkey twizzlers. The food deal's sub-group on calories is chaired by PepsiCo, owner of Walkers crisps.Policy
McDonald's and PepsiCo to help write UK health policy | Politics | The Guardian
Who Is writing our laws?
