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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced earlier this week that it is banning three chemicals used in food packaging, including pizza boxes.
The three chemicals that the FDA has withdrawn its approval for are used to make grease, stain and water repelling food packaging. The ban goes into effect in February.
“The banned chemicals are all perfluorinated compounds (PFC’s), a class of chemicals used to coat things like pizza boxes, pastry wrappers, take-out food containers, paper plates, and non-stick cookware,” Civil Eats reports.
Researchers have raised concerns for years about the use of PFC’s in non-stick cookware, noting potential links to birth defects, heart disease and other health issues, according to Time. Several brands specifically label their products as free if PFC’s. DuPont and other chemical companies entered into an agreement with the FDA to stop using the chemicals in their products in 2012.
.@CFSTrueFood @NRDC & more pushed FDA to ban class of chems used on things like pizza boxes https://t.co/54ygVEmWxZ pic.twitter.com/zYVXD9ty7r
— Center 4 Food Safety (@CFSTrueFood) January 6, 2016
“In lab studies, PFCs have been linked to adverse effects on hormones, reproductive, developmental, neurological and immune systems, and to certain cancers. Last year, a group of more than 200 scientists from 38 countries issued a statement expressing their concern about this type of chemical and calling for policies to limit their production and use,” Civil Eats reports.
In its Monday announcement, the FDA stated that it can no longer say that there is “a reasonably certainty of no harm” in the use of these products in contact with food.
Environmental Working Group (EWG), an environmental health advocacy group, issued a statement indicating the FDA is late to the party:
Under pressure from EWG and other environmental and health groups, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is banning three grease-resistant chemical substances linked to cancer and birth defects from use in pizza boxes, microwave popcorn bags, sandwich wrappers and other food packaging.
The FDA’s belated action comes more than a decade after EWG and other advocates sounded alarms and five years after U.S. chemical companies stopped making the chemicals. It does nothing to prevent food processors and packagers from using almost 100 related chemicals that may also be hazardous.
“Industrial chemicals that pollute people’s blood clearly have no place in food packaging,” said EWG President Ken Cook. “But it’s taken the FDA more than 10 years to figure that out, and it’s banning only three chemicals that aren’t even made any more…
h/t: TheBlaze
Just wait till the lierals find out the condoms they are using as chewing gum also have the same chemicals n them.