The Limits of Nanotechnology
By Tim Schwab, Food Policy Researcher
Last week’s State of the Union Address found President Obama bragging about how few regulations he had implemented as president and how much support he’s going to continue offer the private sector. This sounds an awful lot like business as usual for the White House—promoting innovation at any cost, no matter the impact on human health and the environment.
Case in point: nanomaterials.
The National Research Council (NRC) released a long report last week identifying major gaps in environmental, health and safety research of nanomaterials. Its conclusion: “Despite the promise of nanotechnology…the future of safe and sustainable nanotechnology-based materials, products, and processes is uncertain.”
This warning follows a growing body of science demonstrating potential dangers associated with nanomaterials—a new class of chemicals developed through shrinking the particle sizes of existing elements, like carbon and silver. Turns out that changing the size of particles radically changes their behavior, properties and risks.
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A Bad Egg for Every American?
Investigations into a multi-state outbreak of salmonella have triggered a major recall of eggs involving 17 states and 380 million eggs—that's one bad egg per person in the United States.
By now, many of us have developed an unnatural but necessary fear of French toast, cake, omelets, egg salad sandwiches and more. Investigations into a multi-state outbreak of salmonella have triggered a major recall of eggs involving 17 states and 380 million eggs (one egg per person in the United States, plus several omelets), and those numbers could continue to grow. The affected eggs were packaged as far back as mid-May—an entire season ago.
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Prevention starts when we have enough evidence to act
At the heart of the recent President’s Cancer Panel report is a call for a precautionary approach to environmental contaminants and our exposure to them. Our federal agencies, the ones designed to protect us and promote public health, seem to have missed the memo on prevention—a precautionary measure.
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Would You Product Test Your Own Chips and Dips?
One month ago, most of us had never heard of hydrolyzed vegetable protein, or HVP. HVP is a food additive that rarely shows up on labels in those words. It’s more often listed as seasonings or natural flavorings. It fulfills many of the same functions as MSG without forcing companies to put the dreaded word on their labels.
But in the last month, we’ve had cause to learn what HVP is. From potato chips to seasoning mixes to dips, it seems much of our food is suddenly subject to a recall because of possible salmonella contamination of HVP produced by a Las Vegas company, Basic Food Flavors. The full list of recalled foods is over 150 items, but reports indicate that it could reach over 1,000 items before this is over.
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