http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2007/06/19/EDGGTP3GE81.DTL
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.
Let's hope that consumer litigation brings a clear light to the problem and soda companies act accordingly. Although some soda drink companies have already voluntarily stopped this potentially deadly combination, many others are waiting for the litigation outcomes.
