Debate Is Shifting on Chemical Commonly Found in Food
By GREG WINTER

[W] eeks remain before the publication of the first study showing that starchy foods contain acrylamide, a potential carcinogen, yet much of the once-acrimonious debate over its appearance in staples like French fries, bread and potato chips has already been quelled.

No longer is there much doubt that the chemical, long known as an industrial agent in the manufacture of plastics and adhesives, somehow forms in certain carbohydrates after they are baked or fried at high temperatures, the food industry acknowledges.

"There may be some fine tuning here and there but, yes, acrylamide is in food," said Timothy Willard, spokesman for the National Food Processors Association, a trade group. "This is something of scientific significance."

It is a considerable concession from the food industry, which initially greeted the discovery with almost as much suspicion and resentment as concern.

Ever since Sweden's national food administration said three months ago that it had found high levels of acrylamide in fried foods, and was followed with similar announcements by Britain, Norway and Switzerland, the food industry has been criticizing the agencies for engaging in "science by press release" ? that is, broadcasting the results before they had been vetted for accuracy by scientific journals.

And though the Swedish study will not be published for two weeks, electronic copies of it are flitting across the Internet and being devoured by food industry researchers, who now acknowledge that the science is sound.

But while the debate has shifted, it has grown more complex. It will probably take scientists years to figure out how much danger, if any, acrylamide poses in food, leaving an absence of consensus about what steps should be taken in the meantime.

Scientists for the food industry say they are conducting their own studies, not to contradict the findings of other researchers so much as to see if anything can be done about the chemical's surprising appearance in food.

Little is known about how acrylamide forms in the cooking process, except that higher temperatures appear to encourage its formation. Perhaps, industry scientists speculate, if simple factors like time and heat are adjusted, the chemical's concentration could be diminished somewhat, just in case acrylamide ultimately proves to be a danger.

"Are there really human health implications? Obviously, that's a very long-term question, so we're not waiting around for the answers," said Susan Ferenc, senior scientific adviser to the Grocery Manufacturers of America, another trade group. "In the interim, we're acting as though this is of concern."

In large enough doses, acrylamide can damage the human nervous system, causing drowsiness, hallucinations or numbness in the extremities. But because it has been shown to cause cancer only in rats, it is deemed a "probable" human carcinogen by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The difficulties of ever knowing for certain may be obvious enough. Human tests would be deemed unethical, and pinning particular cancer cases on acrylamide could ignore all the other potential carcinogens people encounter over the course of a lifetime.

In the absence of certainty, public health advocates say that the Food and Drug Administration should advise consumers to scale back on French fries, potato chips and crispy breads, which contain the highest levels of acrylamide. Without more evidence of risk, however, the agency says it is unwilling to issue such warnings, instead advising consumers to follow the guidance of health groups the world over: eat a balanced diet.

"Government regulatory agencies throughout the world accept reliable animal evidence to indicate that a chemical poses a risk to humans," said Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. "It seems obvious that governments should come up with a more serious recommendation than, `Oh, just eat a balanced diet.' "

Both the World Health Organization and the Norwegian food agency advised consumers to moderate their consumption of fried food but refrained from suggesting that they swear off them altogether or steer clear of any particular brands.

Fears of a more stringent warning, particularly from the F.D.A., have consumed the food industry since the topic arose in April. Yet for all the media attention the issue has received across the globe, by some accounts shoppers seem largely untouched.

In an industry-sponsored poll this month, only 13 percent of respondents said they had ever heard the word "acrylamide." Of those, fewer than one in three knew it might be a carcinogen. Even after a brief, albeit understated, description of the chemical and the controversy surrounding it, more than 70 percent of those polled said they had no intention of changing their diet based on the findings.


http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/31/b....html?tntemail0