Health and Advocacy Groups Call on the FDA to Ban Eight Potentially Carcinogenic Flavorings From Food Products

A 38-page petition was filed with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Wednesday calling on the agency to phase out eight synthetic flavorings that are currently permitted in baked goods, candy and ice cream.

The eight substances include Benzophenone, Ethyl acrylate, Eugenyl methyl ether, Myrcene, Pulegone, Pyridine, Styrene and Trans, trans-2,4-hexadienal. The Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association have categorized seven of the eight substances as “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) since 1965. Trans, trans-2,4-hexadienal have been identified as GRAS since 1974. The Center for Science in the Public Interest, National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Center for Environmental Health, Environmental Working Group, Center for Food Safety, Consumers Union, Improving Kids’ Environment, and individual scientists Maricel Maffini and James Huff want federal health regulators to adopt a zero-tolerance policy banning the flavorings, which they say can induce cancer in both humans and animals, according to Food Safety News.

The explicit prohibition is essential because their use has been allowed by FEMA for more than 40 years in food and clarity is necessary to prevent their continued use,” the petition obtained by Food Safety News states. “Mere revocation of approved food additive status would be insufficient under current law and rules to assure that companies would stop using them pursuant to a private GRAS determination regarding a particular condition of use.”

The approved uses for the substances are detailed in the petition, which makes no mention of the current use of the “carcinogenic flavorings” in any specific products currently on the market. According to the petition viewed by Food Safety News, the document says the substances “may be found” in ice cream, baked goods, candy and beverages, and claims that because these flavorings can be added without the FDA’s consent, neither the agency nor the public understand the full danger.

In a statement, NRDC said it is impossible for informed consumers to protect themselves from the “harmful chemicals.”

“Consumers are vulnerable, the government isn’t doing its job and the food industry is calling the shots,” said Erik Olson, NRDC’s director of health programs. “The FDA should be doing much more to ensure our food is safe, and that should start with obeying the law by banning these synthetic flavorings known to cause cancer in animals, rather than just continuing to let the food industry have its way.”

The groups are calling on the nation’s health watchdog to revoke its 1964 approval of seven of the flavorings, and are urging the FDA to overturn the industry’s 1974 self-approval of the eighth artificial flavor, which is allowed in food products under a loophole in the law for chemicals that are categorized as GRAS, according to Food Safety News.

The petitioners also want the FDA to ban the eight flavorings from use in food. The substances were deemed safe long before the U.S. National Institutes of Health’s National Toxicology Program discovered and announced the additives were carcinogenic. The groups wrote in the petition that the flavorings have been allowed for more than 40 years in food, and should be prohibited immediately to prevent their continued use, Food Safety News reported.

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