Maybe Jeremy Piven didn’t get mercury poisoning from fish at all — according to the results of this new study released by the Institute for Agriculture and Trace Policy (IATP), the actor may well have been sickened by soda or candy or anything that contains high fructose corn syrup, which, if you eat processed food in this country means, well, just about anything.
Foodies and nutritionists alike have been griping about high fructose corn syrup for years, and the industry has responded with an “astroturf” campaign and a level of secrecy generally reserved for the military officials or secret societies (see Corn Refiners’ Association president Audrae Erickson’s stonewalling performance in King Corn).
Of course, I wouldn’t want to show my hand either, if the making of my product could be described as undertaking a small “Manhattan Project” (see eye-glazing production info here). But as it turns out, the HFCS industry has been hiding some major skeletons in its closet — according to the IATP study (pdf), over 30% of products containing the substance tested positive for mercury.
What makes this news truly shocking is not just that the manufacturers of high fructose corn syrup would put consumers’ health at risk, but that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) knew about the mercury in the syrup and has been sitting on this information since 2005.
Here’s the connection, according to the IATP press release (pdf) announcing the study: The IATP study comes on the heels of another study, conducted in 2005 but only recently published by the scientific journal, Environmental Health, which revealed that nearly 50 percent of commercial HFCS samples tested positive for the heavy metal. Renee Dufault, who was working for the FDA at the time, was among the 2005 study’s authors.
Here’s how the mercury gets in there, according to Janet at the Ethicurean:
How did the heavy metal get in there? In making HFCS — that “natural” sweetener, as the Corn Refiners Association likes to call it — caustic soda is one ingredient used to separate corn starch from the corn kernel. Apparently most caustic soda for years has been produced in industrial chlorine (chlor-alkali) plants, where it can be contaminated with mercury that it passes on to the HFCS, and then to consumers.
And here’s more from the press release:
“While the FDA had evidence that commercial HFCS was contaminated with mercury four years ago, the agency did not inform consumers, help change industry practice or conduct additional testing.”
And on why it matters:
“Mercury is toxic in all its forms,” said IATP’s David Wallinga, M.D., and a co-author in both studies. “Given how much high fructose corn syrup is consumed by children, it could be a significant additional source of mercury never before considered. We are calling for immediate changes by industry and the FDA to help stop this avoidable mercury contamination of the food supply.”
In China, heads might roll over a scandal like this one, at least if the country received global attention for its allowing corrupt health officials’ greasy palms come before, um, public health.
Of course, in this country, the FDA’s neck is safe. But what about the health of American consumers? Let’s see the Corn Refiner’s Association try to spin this one.
10 responses so far ↓
1 Kate Anne // Jan 27, 2009 at 4:41 pm
This is outrageous, though I am not surprised, given the state of our various governmental departments where the anti-labor people have been in charge of labor, the coal mine owners have been in charge of mine safety, the horse owners in charge of FEMA — let’s hope and trust things improve under Obama. That said, I am passing along this information to friends, including posting it on Facebook, AND passing it along to some of the Air America Radio folk. Thanks for posting it! Peace hugs!
2 Laurel // Jan 27, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Thanks for this article Leslie. Scary stuff though.
I can’t WAIT for their spin on this research.
3 John Gregor, PhD // Jan 28, 2009 at 4:30 am
You don’t say how much mercury! It is an element found in nature. All sorts of things have extremely small amounts of mercury. The question is whether the amount is significant, but you say nothing about that.
4 leslie // Jan 28, 2009 at 10:15 am
Kate and Laurel, thanks for the kind words.
Dr. Gregor, my understanding is that there were different amounts in different samples, and that any level of mercury is harmful to ingest. The amounts are in the report, which I link to in the post, and if you wanted to dig into the comment section at the Huffington Post, where I cross-posted this piece, a few people have done the math there. What’s significant to me is that these corporations willfully have used mercury in the production of their product for years when there are alternative production methods without it.
5 Frederick N. Mills // Jan 28, 2009 at 10:23 pm
No one likes to hear about these things but the sad fact is: it’s time to face the music in a lot of arena’s these days, and together, get busy healing it up.
Kudo’s Leslie, for bringing this to light, and thanks to those who contributed. Here’s to a healthy planet and a united world!!
6 theoddbod // Jan 31, 2009 at 10:05 pm
HFCS just keeps getting better and better for us!
7 Homemade Ketchup | Brooklyn Farmhouse // Feb 10, 2009 at 7:36 pm
[...] damage and all sorts of bad stuff. You can read more about mercury in high fructose corn syrup in this post by Leslie Hatfield on The Green [...]
8 Dana // Mar 10, 2009 at 1:55 pm
After hearing and reading about this, I decided to start a petition to let Congress and the food industry know how we feel.
http://www.petitiononline.com/EndHFCS/petition.html
9 Dana // Mar 10, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Sorry-the link is
http://www.petitiononline.com/HFCS/petition.html
10 Tiana // Mar 25, 2010 at 1:10 am
Sodium Hydroxide Applications:Caustic Soda also known as Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) is used in various applications by numerous industries worldwide.
it can be used for Alumina production, Soap production, Oil drilling, Fuel production, Pulp manufacturing for producing paper, Biodiesel, Aluminium etching, Cleaning agent, Leaded Glass Window restoration, Paint stripper, Tissue digestion, Food preparation, Domestic uses and chemical analysis.
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