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Friday, April 26, 2002"The Swedish officials said they were so surprised by the information that they decided to make it public immediately, rather than wait for publication in a scientific journal." Thankfully, the researchers realize that bread is the staff of life: "We found the substance at levels that, if it was just one product, we would ask that it be immediately taken off the market," said Leif Busk, head of the Research and Development Department of the Swedish National Food Administration. "But it is in foods that we cannot live without, so there is no question of prohibiting it." That’s good. I couldn’t face a world without bagels, chips, and fries. If we believed all of these studies on dangerous contaminants we wouldn’t be able to eat anything or breathe the air around us. Luckily, our bodies aren’t as fragile as these researchers would have us believe, and the human race just keeps on trucking along. I’m not the only one who’s skeptical. Junkscience has a post that quotes the American Council on Science and Health’s response to the Swedes: “’There is no compelling evidence which supports today's claim by Swedish researchers that fried or baked foods high in starch introduces chemicals which increase the risk of human cancer," according to the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH), a nonprofit, consumer education consortium of physicians and scientists based in New York City. "We are deeply concerned that Americans will unnecessarily worry about safe, nutritious foods after hearing today's news," said Dr. Elizabeth M. Whelan, President of ACSH. "The claim that acrylamide, found in common foods such as potatoes and bread, after cooking, poses a human cancer risk is based exclusively on high dose studies in laboratory animals. There is no evidence whatever that humans who eat the observed levels of acrylamide are exposed to any risk of any type of cancer," noted Dr. Whelan.” Let’s face it, the world is not a risk-free place. If the acrylamide doesn’t get you, something else will. posted by Sydney on 4/26/2002 06:50:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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