Foods made with corn syrup may deliver dose of mercury

[Bluebear]

CHICAGO — A new study suggests that food made with corn syrup could be delivering tiny doses of toxic mercury.

For the first time, researchers say they have detected traces of the silvery metal in samples of high-fructose corn syrup, a widely used sweetener that has replaced sugar in many processed foods. The study was published Monday in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health.

Eating high-mercury fish is the chief source of exposure for most people. The new study raises concerns about a previously unknown dietary source of mercury, which has been linked to learning disabilities in children and heart disease in adults.

The source of the metal appears to be caustic soda and hydrochloric acid, which manufacturers of corn syrup use to help convert corn kernels into the food additive.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2008674706_mercury27.html

[donheld]

1. Isn't that just lovely?

The stuff should be banned.

[Webster Green]

2. I guess I don't need to tell the chimp what he should do with that ear.

Jeezus, what a fucking idiot. Thank God that particular nightmare is over at least. :rofl:

Glad that I don't use much corn syrup. (I don't think do anyway)

[Quantess]

3. SWEET! No, not really.

[Elwood P Dowd]

4. "Oh shucks, my Ann Coulter doll is falling apart."

:puke:

[Cetacea]

6. lol

[Bluebear]

10. Bonus points for the "shucks" :)

[uppityperson]

5. "suggests" "may" "cautioned...study limited" "only 20 samples...analyzed"

"The researchers cautioned that their study was limited. Only 20 samples were analyzed; mercury was detected in nine."

With enough qualifiers, you can pretend you are actually saying something. More studies need to be done.

[Maru Kitteh]

7. What you mean to say is - a REAL study needs to be done. Agreed.

The only thing missing form this story was "sources say."

[JoeyT]

8. Sources close to the corn

that wish to remain anonymous say he'd had a mercury problem for a while, but had been hiding it from his loved ones.

[Bluebear]

9. 'More studies need to be done.' - agreed, but sooner rather than later

[eppur_se_muova]

14. The FDA had this data in hand in 2005.

The Environmental Health study draws on samples of high-fructose corn syrup taken straight from the factory. But no one drinks the stuff straight. What about, say, cookies sweetened with HFCS? The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy plucked HFCS-containing products from supermarket shelves and tested them for mercury. The result?


Overall, we found detectable mercury in 17 of 55 samples, or around 31 percent


Traces of mercury turned up in name-brand products from makers including Quaker, Hunt's, Manwich, Hershey's, Smucker's, Kraft, Nutri-Grain, and Yoplait.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=222&topic_id=51533&mesg_id=51533

You'd think someone would do something about this ...

There is one hopeful tidbit from the highly disturbing Environmental Health and Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy studies. Several years ago, then-Sen. Barack Obama introduced legislation that would have forced the chlorine industry to phase out mercury.

That bill failed.

[Igel]

17. Possibly unofficially.

The problem is that the brouhaha around the report over a year ago pointed out some disturbing things left out of the data.

Let's see if I can remember them.

The Hg came from NaOH used to pH balance the HFCS at various points in the process. The NaOH originated from one supplier who produced all the tainted NaOH at one (two?) plants. The equipment used to produce the NaOH was old and malfunctioning, and the problem would have been fixed at the next PM since the Hg in the NaOH was a no-no per company internal specs. However, there may never have been a PM pulled on the equipment because it was an old, inefficient process and when the tainted syrup samples were found in 2005 the equipment was already slated for upgrading to a newer process. The report didn't check back in 2008 and 2009 to see if the equipment had been replaced, but that information was presumably easily obtainable.

The report focused on products HFCS might be in without claiming that the tainted HFCS was in them--allowing the reader to reach a false inference. The report focused on HCFS producers and not the source of the Hg, misassigning blame for the taint to the HFCS producers and not a producer of food-grade NaOH. This allowed the problem to be portrayed as an industry-wide problem, like the Chinese melamine scandal was, and not the failure of a single plant (whatever the distribution may have done with that plant's product--which is, I think, the larger albeit non-sensationalistic issue). The report failed to update their data with new information, or had the information and thought it not relevant, when the topicality of the claim makes such information essential.

It's not at all surprising to me that this report is being published for the first time over a year after it was first published. I'd also expect many people to be utterly amazed and outraged at hearing this information for the first time again.

[ret5hd]

11. Do you think the anti-vaxers are gonna jump on this?

Do you think we will read anecdotes about "i know a child who immediately became autistic after eating ONE dorito."

[Bluebear]

12. goodness I would hope not!

:)

[Odin2005]

15. ROFLMAO!!!

:rofl:

[eppur_se_muova]

13. Actually, this made the news a year ago ... visit the Health DG ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=222&topic_id=51533&mesg_id=51533

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5407108&mesg_id=5407108

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=222&topic_id=51900&mesg_id=51900

[Javaman]

16. So stay away from that candied tuna!

:rofl:

[Igel]

19. Since it was found in the NaOH used

I'd be more concerned with the lutefisk.

For many reasons, of course, not just the Hg.

[ThomWV]

18. Air tainted with power plant fumes Definitely gives you a dose of Mercury with every breath

and that doesn't seem to bother people much.