Remeber what Hulda said about Benzen... 
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Soft drinks found to have high levels of cancer chemical
By Rajeev Syal
TRACES of a carcinogenic chemical have been found in soft drinks at eight times the level permitted in drinking water, it was revealed last night.
Tests conducted on 230 drinks on sale in Britain and France have identified high levels of benzene, a compound known to cause cancer, according to the Food Standards Agency. There is a legal limit of one part per billion of benzene in British drinking water. The latest tests revealed levels of up to eight parts per billion in some soft drinks.
Benzene has been linked to leukaemia and other cancers of the blood. Traces found in Perrier water 15 years ago led to the withdrawal of more than 160 million bottles worldwide. The disclosure has prompted food safety campaigners to demand that the Government reveal which products contain benzene. At present, the drinks’ identities have not been revealed.
Richard Watts, of Sustain, a pressure group lobbying for better food standards, said that this should be done urgently because the drinks were being marketed to children. “The scientific evidence is unclear about whether there is any safe level of benzene. We see no reason why it should be different from the designated safe level in drinking water. If it is unsafe in drinking water, why should it be safe in soft drinks?” he said.
The Food Standards Agency, the government watchdog, said that the products did not pose an immediate health risk, but called for further investigation from the British drinks industry. “Let’s have further investigations and regular discussions with the drinks industry to check what is happening. If levels are high then the FSA will take action to protect consumers,” an agency spokesman said.
Food scientists believe that high levels of benzene may have been produced by the reaction of two commonly used ingredients — sodium benzoate, a preservative, and ascorbic acid (vitamin C). Sodium benzoate is widely used in the drinks sector. In Britain, it is used in Britvic brands including Britvic 55 apple and orange flavours, Pennine Spring flavoured waters and Shandy Bass.It is not known if any of these products were included in the latest tests. A spokesman for Britvic has previously expressed confidence in its products.
A spokesman for the British Soft Drinks Association said yesterday that the industry was working to reduce the levels of benzene in soft drinks. “There is an obligation on the industry to have as low a level of benzene as possible and we are looking at ways of reducing the levels — and maybe even removing the preservative — if we can replace it with something else,” he said.
When minuscule traces of benzene were discovered in Perrier water 15 years ago, it forced the French company to withdraw millions of bottles.
Tests have been carried out in Europe after US food watchdogs found benzene in juices and sodas. The Food and Drug Administration registered its concern about the possible long-term effects on health.
Professor Glenn Lawrence, of Long Island University, who first conducted tests for benzene in soft drinks 13 years ago, said that the combination of sodium benzoate and vitamin C was commonly used in drinks in the early 1990s.
He said that drinks firms were now putting vitamin C back into drinks to encourage consumers to buy the product. He said that this was being done to encourage parents to buy the drinks to improve their children’s health but it might just be doing the opposite.
BENZENE FACTS
# Michael Faraday discovered benzene in 1825 when he isolated it from oil gas to form a chemical, six parts carbon, six parts hydrogen
# It is produced during incomplete combustion of carbon-rich substances: it is produced from petrochemicals, but occurs naturally in volcanoes, forest fires and in cigarette smoke
# In the 19th and early 20th centuries it was used in aftershave, for its pleasant smell, and to decaffinate coffee. It is now used as an anti-knock agent in petrol
# It is an aggressive carcinogen and may lead to leukaemia and other cancers of the blood
# In 1993, Professor Glenn Lawrence, of Long Island University, published research showing that the sodium benzoate and vitamin C found in soft drinks could react to form benzene. He suggested that drink companies were putting vitamin C into drinks to encourage customers to buy them
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Previous page : FDA re-opens probe into benzene contamination of soft drinks
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FDA re-opens probe into benzene contamination of soft drinks
2/15/2006- US food safety authorities have re-opened an investigation closed 15 years ago into soft drinks contaminated with cancer-causing chemical benzene, following evidence the industry has failed to sort out the problem.
A chemist at the Food And Drug Administration (FDA) said testing in recent weeks had revealed some soft drinks contaminated with benzene at levels above the legal limit for water set by the US and Europe.
Benzene is listed as a poisonous chemical shown to increase the risk of leukaemia and other cancers.
The FDA was originally alerted in 1990 to the problem of benzene in soft drinks triggered by the preservative sodium benzoate. It never made the findings public, but came to an arrangement with the US soft drinks association that the industry would “get the word out”.
But in recent months, internal documents and private tests have begun to surface, supported by claims from a former chemist for Cadbury Schweppes, who is now keen to blow the whistle on the health risk involved. He and a US lawyer commissioned new tests that have now prompted the FDA to re-open the case.
These independent tests, performed by a laboratory in New York, found benzene levels in a couple of soft drinks two-and-a-half-times and five times above the World Health Organisation limit for drinking water (10 parts per billion).
The FDA now confirms it has found a similar problem in its own follow-up testing. “There were a few isolated products that have elevated levels. We certainly want to make sure there is some reformulation,” said an FDA chemist.
The problem is caused by two common ingredients – sodium benzoate and ascorbic acid (vitamin C) – which can react together to cause benzene formation. It is considered completely separate from other outbreaks of benzene contamination due to faulty packaging in the 1990s.
The two ingredients are still used together in a wide range of soft drinks across the world.
The FDA was first alerted to the problem in December 1990 by Cadbury Schweppes and Australian drinks group Koala Springs, according to an internal FDA memo.
This prompted FDA testing that led the US Department of Health and Human Services to report, again in an internal memo: “Benzene formation occurs at part per billion (ppb) levels in some food formulations containing sodium benzoate and ascorbic acid [vitamin C].”
These findings were discussed in a meeting between the FDA and National Soft Drinks Association (NSDA), representing the likes of Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Cadbury Schweppes. The internal minutes from this meeting report that the companies, through the NSDA, “expressed concern about the presence of benzene traces in their products and the potential for adverse publicity associated with this problem”.
But Greg Diachenko, an FDA chemist who helped to co-ordinate the FDA testing for benzene in 1990/91 and who took part in negotiations with the industry, said: “Soft drinks manufacturers told us [at the time] that they would get the word out and they were reformulating.”
Legal action was not taken, he said, because the industry was already reformulating. This, he added, meant that any risk to consumers would be very short-term because risk analysis in the US works on the basis of lifetime exposure to a substance.
The FDA did more tests in the US in 1993 and found no problem. But, added Diachenko: “It is probable and likely that there were some people who did not get the message or that it was lost in the course of time.”
Any soft drink companies founded since 1993, for example, could be outside of the loop and not know about the potential ‘fixes’.
Plus, the FDA, as a US authority, only checked drinks available in the US. Diachenko said he was not sure how many other regulatory authorities had been told about the potential for benzene formation from sodium benzoate and ascorbic acid.
An article flagging up the problem was published in the public journal, the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, in 1993.
According to Diachenko at the FDA, if authorities outside the US had not seen the information they might not know, and that could mean more soft drinks containing benzene in their areas.
More than 1,500 soft drink products containing sodium benzoate and ascorbic acid or citric acid have been launched across Europe, Latin America and North America since January 2002.
Glen Lawrence, another chemist who conducted benzene testing for the FDA back in 1990-1991 and a co-author of the 1993 journal article, has also confirmed to BeverageDaily.com that sodium benzoate and ascorbic acid do react to form benzene in soft drinks.
His study showed that ascorbic acid initially reacted with metals, such as iron or copper, found in the water to create ‘free radical’ particles known as hydroxyl radicals.
Sodium benzoate, meanwhile, breaks down into benzoic acid when placed in acidic conditions, such as in a soft drink.
The hydroxyl radical attacks the benzoic acid , removing the carbon dioxide from it and leaving benzene in its wake. Lawrence’s study said this reaction could take place “under conditions prevalent in many foods and beverages”.
Lawrence said: “There is no good reason to add ascorbic acid (vitamin C) to soft drinks, and those that may have ascorbic acid naturally in them (juices) should not use sodium benzoate as a preservative. So it is really very easy to avoid the problem.”
Sodium benzoate, also known as E211, is used as a preservative by a range of food and drink producers. Its main advantage is its effectiveness at killing off bacteria under the acidic conditions of most beverages.
Ascorbic acid, or vitamin C, is found naturally in fruit and vegetables but is also added as an antioxidant in food and drink production to help prevent spoilage and extend shelf-life.
The FDA says it has almost completed the testing. It has not yet made any public announcement about the problem, but has told BeverageDaily.com that it will soon address what action should now be taken.
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