Is there benzene in your soda pop?
Benzene is a carcinogen. That means it causes cancer. It is most commonly linked with leukemia. Fifteen years ago, benzene was found in Perrier water. That discovery led to the withdrawal of more than 160 million bottles worldwide. Now, we are learning that benzene has been found in some soft drinks.
According to a report in the TimesOnLine, food scientists believe benzene is formed when two commonly used food additives, sodium benzoate (a preservative) and ascorbic acid (vitamin C) react. An April 13, 2006 statement from the FDA states that the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) initiated a survey of benzene levels in soft drinks that indicates:
“...that the vast majority of beverages sampled (including those containing both benzoate salts and ascorbic acid) contain either no detectable benzene levels are well below the 5 parts per billion (ppb) US water standard.”
The statement goes on to note that a separate FDA study, known as the Total Diet Study (TDS) indicated that benzene levels in soft drinks were “well above and inconsistent with CFSAN’s more recent survey results.” They suggest that “elevated benzene levels can be formed by the procedures [TDS] used to analyze beverage samples. This, they say, could be the reason why the TDS benzene results were higher than those found in the CFSAN study.
This is interesting in light of today’s New York Times story entitled “Soft Drink Companies Reach Benzene Deal.” The story describes a law suit against beverage makers that is designed to force them to eliminate from their products the ingredients that lead to the formation of benzene. Products targeted include Coke’s Vault Zero energy drink, PepsiCo’s Diet Wild Cherry, and Kraft Food’s Crystal Light Sunrise Classic Orange. A Coca-Cola spokesman was quoted as saying “the lawsuit is not about consumer safety, but about lining the lawyers’ pockets.”
Two smaller beverage makers have recently settled similar lawsuits against them. The companies that settled are Zone Brands, maker of BellyWashers and Talking Rain Beverage Company. They both denied that their products caused any harm, but agreed to change their ingredients and to refund or replace drinks made before the switch in ingredients.
Well, I don’t know about you, but I would prefer not to have any benzene in the products (or the water) that I drink. I think we, the soda pop drinking public, should advocate zero tolerance for benzene, not just a standard that allows an amount below 5 ppb. There are plenty of other enjoyable ways to get vitamin C in from your diet, such as eating an orange, a grapefruit, or a tomato. Why, then, do we have to have vitamin C in soft drinks if there is any chance that it could react with another ingredient and form a cancer causing substance?