Debate Is Shifting on Chemical Commonly Found in Food

July 31, 2002
By GREG WINTER


Weeks 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And though the Swedish study will not be published for two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...91903bbe114edd6