• Posted September 17, 2024

Many Toxic Chemicals Leach Into Human Bodies From Food Packaging

That plastic wrap you find around the food you eat is far from benign: A new study shows that more than 3,600 chemicals leach into food during the packaging process.

Of that number, 79 chemicals are known to cause cancer, genetic mutations, and endocrine and reproductive issues, a team of international researchers reported Tuesday in the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology.

“Our research helps to establish the link between food contact chemicals and human exposure, highlights chemicals that are overlooked in biomonitoring studies and supports research into safer food contact materials,” lead study author Birgit Geueke, senior scientific officer at the nonprofit Food Packaging Forum, said in a news release on the study.

Experts were stunned by the magnitude of the findings.

“This is a staggering number and shows that food contact materials are a significant source of chemicals in humans,” Martin Wagner, a professor of biology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, told CNN.

“The study is the first to systematically link the chemicals we use in materials to package and process foods to human exposure,” said Wagner, who was not involved in the research.

While food packaging materials may comply with government regulations, the study shows these chemicals may not be completely safe, said senior study author Jane Muncke, managing director and chief scientific officer at the Food Packaging Forum.

“We don’t know exactly what the amount is that’s been used in food packaging or other food contact materials versus the amount that’s being used for cosmetics, personal care products, textiles and so on and so forth, right? I would like to have that information,” she told CNN. “I think it would be fantastic to make it a regulatory requirement for companies to declare how much and what type of chemicals they are putting into my food or plastic water bottle.”

In response to the findings, the American Chemistry Council stressed that its members are dedicated to food safety.

“It is essential, however, when assessing potential risks to consider a broader context, including existing regulatory frameworks, scientific evidence, and the actual levels and degree of exposure that may exist," a council spokesperson told CNN. “Any proposed actions lacking this context, particularly when causality has not been definitively established, is inconsistent with risk-based U.S. chemical regulation laws.”

One well-known and ubiquitous chemical the study detected in both food and the human body was bisphenol A (BPA), which was used in baby bottles, sippy cups and infant formula containers until parents boycotted those products more than a decade ago, CNN reported.

BPA has been linked to fetal abnormalities, low birth weight and brain and behavior disorders in infants and children, while it is linked to diabetes, heart disease, erectile dysfunction, cancer and a higher risk of early death in adults, CNN reported.

Then there were perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which are present in the blood of an estimated 98% of Americans, according to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Another chemical the researchers discovered in human bodies was phthalates, which have been linked with genital malformations and undescended testes in baby boys and lower sperm counts and testosterone levels in adult males, CNN reported. Other studies have linked phthalates to childhood obesity, asthma, cardiovascular issues, cancer and premature death.

To come to their conclusions, the researchers compared 14,000 chemicals known to come in contact with food during the packaging process with international databases that monitor human exposure to chemical toxins.

To compare what was found in people and the chemicals known to migrate during food processing into food, Muncke's team looked at national and regional databases that track chemicals in human blood, urine, breast milk and tissue samples.

Having a chemical in your body does not always mean the chemical is harmful, “yet you’re not supposed to be born with any chemical inside of you,” Melanie Benesh, vice president of government affairs for the Environmental Working Group, told CNN. “The bigger question is do we really need these chemicals to process our food? When there are chemicals in our bodies that we know have the potential to cause us harm, we should be eliminating every route of exposure that we can.”

Accomplishing that lofty goal could prove challenging: In November 2022, the U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report that detailed the limitations of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in monitoring the nation’s food safety, including the agency’s lack of legal authority over food manufacturers.

But Jim Jones, the FDA’s deputy commissioner for human foods, told the House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s subcommittee on health last week that the FDA has now made food chemical safety a top priority.

“However, there are also important gaps that need to be addressed as we undertake the work to strengthen our food chemical safety activities,” he testified. “Ready access to safety information and consumer exposure data on chemicals in need of review would help us conduct faster and more robust safety evaluations and reassessments. Access to this data would allow FDA to take any necessary regulatory actions in a timely manner to protect consumers and help ensure food safety.”

For the first time, the FDA will hold a public hearing on Sept. 25 that will focus on enhancing its assessment of chemicals found in food.

“This is unprecedented,” Benesh said. “This is the first time the FDA is talking about standing up a rigorous review program that puts human health first, that puts chemical safety first, and that restores some of the trust consumers have lost in the agency.”

More information

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has more on food safety.

SOURCE:  Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology, Sept. 16, 2024; CNN