The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Friday the launch of an updated systematic review process for chemicals already in the American food supply.
As part of the process, the agency will expedite the analyses of chemicals already under review, including phthalates, propylparaben, and titanium dioxide. It will also add more chemicals, including BHA, BHT, and ADA to the review list and institute a final, post-market review process “shaped by stakeholder input.”
“We are prioritizing our resources and leveraging gold standard science to create, for the first time, a systematic post-market review program that consumers can trust and rely on,” FDA Commissioner Martin Makary said. “Only by improving the safety and transparency of the food supply and ensuring consumers can make healthful food choices will we overcome the long-standing trajectory of chronic diseases.”
The move is part of an increased oversight effort by U.S. Health and Human Services of chemicals present in the nation’s food supply, many of which have never been properly studied for safety and some of which are banned in the European Union.
Health and environmental activists have sounded the alarm for decades over the enormous leeway the FDA gives to American chemical companies who profit from adding their products to a host of consumer goods, including cosmetics and food.
Since 1958, the FDA has relied on a voluntary disclosure system where corporations are allowed to self-identify their chemical products as “generally recognized as safe,” or GRAS, without having to conduct rigorous safety testing or agency approval before the chemicals are released on the market and ingested by the public.
The FDA’s Friday announcement follows an announcement made March 10 by HHS that the agency is revisiting the GRAS final rule for potential reform. Three of the new chemicals that the FDA will study — BHA, BHT, and ADA — all currently classified as GRAS and present in many foods.
BHA and BHT are added to foods like cereal as a preservative and food oils to keep them from going rancid. They are also used to treat genital herpes. BHA caused tumor growth in multiple animal studies and is a suspected human carcinogen, while BHT damaged the liver and kidneys in animal studies.
ADA, or azodicarbonamide, is added to flour and bread as a whitening agent or dough conditioner, respectively. It is also used to make yoga mats and foam insulation. ADA fully breaks down into the chemicals semicarbazide and urethane, both suspected carcinogens.
All three chemicals are banned in the EU.
“No parent should ever worry about what’s in their child’s food,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Friday. “We’re taking decisive action and using every authority we have to clean up the food supply and protect American families.”
