Why is it still allowed in US food?
By: Christina Sarich
A recent study by Harvard School of Public Health says a widely used chemical used in US food products causes fertility issues, yet it is still allowed to be used.
While the US Food and Drug Administration declares this synthetic food additive is “generally recognized as safe, or GRAS,” the European Union’s food regulators outlawed it ever since scientists found it lowered sperm counts in rats.
If lowered sperm count and reduced fertility through hormonal disruption isn’t exactly what you signed up for every time you eat one of 50 different snack foods like Sara Lee cinnamon rolls, Weight Watchers cakes, Cafe Valley muffins, or La Banderita corn tortillas, read on.
This synthetic, estrogen-mimicking additive is already used in cosmetics, but now the Environmental Working Group has found it in over 50 different foods.
Propyl Paraben is one of many common parabens which include methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben and butylparaben. Parabens allow skin care products to survive for months or even years in your medicine cabinet, and now for food to last longer on shelves, and in transit.
Propyl Paraben is in everything from muffins, tortillas, trail mix, pies, sausage rolls, and more. (You can find the complete list of foods found to contain this endocrine disruptor, here.)
Read: 6 Ingredients Sold in the US But Banned in Other Countries
Big food manufacturers have been using it for some time. In fact, only under pressure from the EWG did Johnson & Johnson voluntarily pledge to remove this and other members of the paraben family from all its baby products! That’s right, even your little bundle of joy could be exposed to parabens that cause fertility and developmental problems.
Furthermore, research led by Antonia Calafat, Ph.D., a respected chemist at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reported that 92.7 percent of Americans tested have had propyl paraben in their urine (Calafat 2010). Cornell University research suggests that exposure to parabens for a lifetime can lead to breast cancer, among other health concerns.
Yet, the US FDA doesn’t seem to care. They aren’t protecting the food supply. They are accomplices to demolishing it.
It is bad enough that parabens were found in thousand of cosmetics products, including soaps, body washes, deodarents, moisturizers, shampoos, and conditioners, but now in our food?
If you want to send a clear message to “the food makers” that you won’t tolerate this endocrine disrupting toxin in your food, you can sign a petition sponsored by the EWG, here.
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About the Author:
Christina Sarich is a humanitarian and freelance writer helping you to Wake up Your Sleepy Little Head, and See the Big Picture. Her blog is Yoga for the New World. Her latest book is Pharma Sutra: Healing the Body And Mind Through the Art of Yoga.
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