FDA: High levels of benzene found in some drinks

From the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

The companies that make the drinks have been alerted and either have reformulated their products or plan to do so, the FDA said. Government health officials maintain there is no safety concern, an opinion not shared by at least one environmental group.

The five drinks listed by the government were Safeway Select Diet Orange, Crush Pineapple, AquaCal Strawberry Flavored Water Beverage, Crystal Light Sunrise Classic Orange and Giant Light Cranberry Juice Cocktail. The high levels of benzene were found in specific production lots of the drinks, the FDA said.

Benzene, a chemical linked to leukemia, can form in soft drinks containing two ingredients: Vitamin C, also called ascorbic acid, and either of the two preservatives: sodium benzoate and potassium benzoate.

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I think it's safe to conclude that things are probably worse than the FDA is indicating. After all, it's fairly well known that Federal agencies under the Bush White House have been extraordinarily friendly to the industries they are supposed to regulate, and have, in numerous documented instances, kept important information from public scrutiny, for everything from global warming to pollution levels to stem cell research. I'm betting that the drinks listed in the above excerpt are simply the worst of the worst. It's nice and all that I don't drink the worst of the worst, but I've got to ask: what's really safe and what's not? That's actually a major problem. Americans today have no way of knowing to which toxic substances they are being exposed. Really, the federal government is the only entity with the resources to figure this shit out, but, under Bush, that's just not happening.

Just another thing to worry about.

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