Not So Sweet: Missing Mercury and HFCS IATPP 3
Executive summary
We live in a truly global ood system. Our system typically is geared more toward producing lots o cheap calories, and then selling those calories to consumers, than it is toward meeting other goals likereducing ossil uel use or producing ood that is healthy.In stark relie, new science shows just how blind to healthulness some processed ood makers havebeen. Just published online in the journal,
Environmental Health
(http://www.ehjournal.net/home/), is a science commentary reporting that mercury was ound in 9 o 20 samples o commer-cial high ructose corn syrup (HFCS), a common sweetener o oods and beverages. The HFCS camerom three dierent manuacturers.Mercury is a potent brain toxin that we know accumulates in sh and seaood, although diet is notthe only route by which we are exposed. When babies are exposed to elevated mercury in the womb,their brains may develop abnormally, impairing learning abilities and reducing IQ. For these youngestchildren, the science increasingly suggests there may be no “sae” level o exposure to mercury. And yet or decades an increasingly common ingredient in processed oods, HFCS, has been madeusing mercury-grade caustic soda.Caustic soda (also known as sodium hydroxide or lye) and a number o other ood industry ingredi-ents are produced in industrial chlorine (chlor-alkali) plants. “Mercury-grade,” also known as “rayon-grade” caustic soda, comes rom chlorine plants still using an outdated 19
th
century technology thatrelies on the use o mercury. While most chlorine plants around the world have switched to newer, cleaner technologies, some stillrely on the use o mercury. These mercury cell plants may rival coal-red power plants as sources o mercury “leaked” to the environment. What has not been publicly recognized is that mercury cell technology can also contaminate all theood grade chemicals made rom it, including caustic soda, as well as hydrochloric acid. It was unrec-ognized, that is, until the lead author o the
Environmental Health
study, a longtime environmentalinvestigator o the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), thought to look into it. What she ound was that possible mercury contamination o these ood chemicals was not commonknowledge within the ood industry despite the availability o product specication sheets or mercu-ry-grade caustic soda that clearly indicate the presence o mercury (as well as lead, arsenic and othermetals). Upon urther investigation, she ound mercury contamination in some commercial HFCS, which can be made rom mercury-grade caustic soda.Through this public scientist’s initiative, the FDA learned that commercial HFCS was contaminated with mercury. The agency has apparently done nothing to inorm consumers o this act, however, orto help change industry practice.Consumers likely aren’t the only ones in the dark. While HFCS manuacturers certainly should havebeen wary o buying “mercury-grade” caustic soda in the rst place, the ood companies that buy nished HFCS and incorporate it into their processed ood products may be equally unaware o how their HFCS is made, i.e., whether or not it is made rom chemicals produced by a chlorine plant stillusing mercury cells. The HFCS isn’t labeled “Made with mercury,” just like contaminated pet oods,chocolates and other products have not been labeled “Made with melamine.” Under current regula-tions, that inormation is not made available to either consumers or to companies urther down theood supply chain.
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