It's not a given that the food, soft drinks, and water that you drink is safe for consumption. How can that be when food safety is purportedly monitored and regulated by multiple government agencies? Actually - all that monitoring by multiple government agencies - creates the problems of food, water, and soft drinks and putting the public at risk.
Currently there are varied consumer groups trying to change what goes into a can or bottle of soft drinks or soda pop. Benzene forms when there a particular combination of ingredients - ascorbic acid (vitamin C) or erythorbic acid in combination with benzoate salt (sodium benzoate or potassium benzoate) especially when exposed to heat and light. One has to wonder how hot the storage area of trucks get when transporting soft drinks to warm states especially during the summer months or how hot is considered heat. Are bottles of soda exposed to light? There seems to be too many variables as to what is heat and what is light. And then again, how would a consumer know that benzene has bubbled in their can of soda?
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says there is no safe level of benzene ingestion. However, levels of benzene have been found to exceed the 5 ppb (parts per billion) which is the drinking water standard. On the other hand, the FDA has set benzene standards for drinking water but not beverages and food. So, while the EPA says no amounts of benzene are safe and the FDA hasn't even considered putting benzene in its food and beverage radar - the great divide become greater.
In May 2006, the American Beverage Association posted on its website that: "Several beverage companies have been named in benzene civil class action lawsuits in a number of states." These complaints have been filed despite the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) repeated statements that it has found no public health risk from the trace amounts of benzene found in a very limited number of beverage brands.
The FDA has closely reviewed beverages for the presence of benzene in soft drinks several times in the past and each time has found no public health issue. As recently as May 19 2006, FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) stated, "The results of CFSAN's 2005/2006 survey indicate that the levels of benzene found in soft drinks and other beverages to date do not pose a safety concern for consumers."
Soft drinks are safe, including the few products that show small amounts of benzene.
Benzene is ubiquitous to the environment. It is in the air we breathe and the foods we eat. People are exposed to more benzene from breathing the air, or eating a banana than from consuming a soft drink.
Given statements from the FDA and other international regulatory bodies finding that benzene is not a public health concern, it is difficult to understand the basis for these lawsuits."
Let's hope that consumer litigation brings a clear light to the problem and soda companies act accordingly.
