Date:
10/22/2007 01:44 PM Opinions differ on safety of eating microwave popcorn
at home
By SHARON COHEN
AP National Writer
The
smell of buttery microwave popcorn can be intoxicating. But
can it also be dangerous?
The
question took on new significance recently when a doctor alerted
federal regulatory agencies that a Colorado man who ate at
least two bags every night for several years had "significant
lung disease" similar to that seen in some microwave
popcorn workers.
The
illness — the first suspected case in a consumer —
was linked to the man's habit of inhaling fumes from extra-buttery
microwave popcorn, which contains the chemical diacetyl. The
additive gives foods a buttery taste and has been linked to
severe lung disease in some microwave popcorn and flavor plant
workers.
Dr.
Cecile Rose, the lung specialist who examined the 53-year-old
furniture salesman, says it "looks like a possible case,
but we can't be sure." In her letter to federal officials,
she said though it's hard to make a causal connection, "we
have no other plausible explanation."
Rose
says eating microwave popcorn isn't dangerous, but what's
not yet known is what hazards may be associated with the fumes.
"My
children continue to eat microwave popcorn every now and then,"
says Rose, of the National Jewish Medical and Research Center
in Denver. "I would probably urge that people not do
it in a way that they are deeply inhaling the fumes."
Dr.
Phil Harber, a UCLA lung specialist, also says there isn't
enough information to determine whether there's a "medically
significant risk" but said people who eat lots of this
kind of microwave popcorn should try to limit exposure when
cooking it.
Some
major microwave popcorn makers have already made the issue
moot: They have eliminated or plan to drop the chemical from
their recipes.
Meanwhile,
a long-awaited government study that looks at chemical fumes
emitted from microwaving popcorn at home — including
those from diacetyl — will be published in a scientific
journal in December.
The
study, conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
took nearly three years and was completed in 2006, according
to Suzanne Ackerman, an agency spokeswoman.
Some
critics have questioned the time lag in making the results
public as well as the EPA's decision to share the findings
first with popcorn makers. Ackerman says the companies were
permitted to read the report last year to make sure no competitive
secrets were released.
"That
was the only reason," she says, noting that the researcher
couldn't get access to their ingredients without agreeing
to those terms. "They were not allowed input into the
final paper and they could not change a word of the paper
— unless she (the researcher) had revealed a secret
formula."
Ackerman
also says peer reviews and a rejection by a journal also delayed
release of the results.
More
than 45 chemicals were reportedly emitted during the popping
and opening up of the popcorn bags.
Ackerman
says the research looks only at the levels of fumes.
"We're
not going to know by this study if it harms anyone,"
she says. "All it does is measure emissions."
