Jane Orient, executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons and president of Doctors for Disaster Preparedness, believes it’s the latest example of chemophobia.
Orient was referring to a Food and Drug Administration study that found some “forever” chemicals in some food.
The class of chemicals, which also are known as PFAs, are linked to dangerous health issues with cancer topping the list.
“Given a sensitive enough analytical device, everything is eventually contaminated with everything else,” Orient told the FDA Reporter. “About 50 percent of chemicals can be shown to be carcinogenic if you give enough to some kind of animal.
“The EPA standards for safety in chemicals might be at first ‘conservative,’ then they may lower the limit by factors of 10 to become what some call ridiculous. One would need to take a look at the evidence. A concentration of "10 times the limit" might be the same as 10 times virtually nothing, say 2 drops in an Olympic-size swimming pool.”
PFAs, which are found in household products, has been found in water supplies after breaking down.
The FDA research found PFAs in food, produce, meat, milk and chocolate cakes.
“he FDA does not have any indication that these substances are a human health concern … at the levels found in this limited sampling,” the agency said in the statement provided to the news website The Hill. “These data give our scientists a benchmark to use as we continue our critical work studying this emerging area of science.”
According to the Hill story, the study found PFAs in 14 of the 91 samples tested, but the samples of meat and store-bought chocolate cake had particularly high levels of the chemical.
Orient said that although more research is needed, some studies have shown that long chain PFAS like PFOA and PFOS may:
— Cause developmental effects in infants.
— Lower a woman’s chance of getting pregnant.
— Increase a woman’s blood pressure during pregnancy.
— Lower infant birth weights.
— Interfere with the body’s natural hormones.
— Increase cholesterol levels.
— Affect the immune system.
— Increase the risk of cancer.
“There are lots of things to worry about in water: antibiotics, hormones from birth-control pills not removed in sewage processing bacteria that seep in through leaks in the pipes. It would be good to look at food packaging, and are there better ways to keep food clean and fresh,” Orient said.
Orient indicated that PFAs are not on her worry list.
“I'd believe the FDA's reassurances on this, unless presented with contrary evidence that included actual concentrations (not ‘x times the limit’) and absolute level of risk (say one in a million, or mg of birth weight),” she said.
