Reply #26: Yuck! And see how the EPA has handled the problem?

[leftchick]

<snip>

And while Pop Weaver has dropped diacetyl from its product, it remains in widespread use in thousands of other consumer products, including the microwave popcorn brands Orville Redenbacher and Act II.

Despite the worker safety findings -- and despite scores of jury decisions and settlements awarding millions of dollars to workers who sued after having their lungs destroyed by exposure to diacetyl -- neither the Food and Drug Administration nor the Consumer Product Safety Commission have investigated. The FDA years ago declared the chemical safe for consumption. Labels on almost all products containing it call it a flavoring and only rarely do the labels mention diacetyl.

The only government investigators to examine whether consumers are at risk -- whether diacetyl is released when consumers pop corn in their home microwaves, and if so, how much -- is the Environmental Protection Agency. But to the frustration of many public health workers, the findings of the EPA's study -- which began in 2003 and was completed last year -- have been released only to the popcorn industry.

In part, it was the EPA's study that led Pop Weaver to reformulate its flavoring without diacetyl, said Mike Weaver, chief executive officer of the 80-yearold family-owned company.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/329640_popcorn30.html