It turns out that diacetyl is not the same as butter, although advertising for Orville Redenbacher “Butter” and Act II popcorn might have confused some.
USA Today reports:
The nation’s largest microwave popcorn maker, ConAgra Foods, says it will change the recipe for its Orville Redenbacher and Act II brands over the next year to remove a flavoring chemical linked to a lung ailment in popcorn plant workers.
The decision comes a day after a doctor at a leading lung research hospital said in a warning letter to federal regulators that consumers, not just factory workers, may be in danger from fumes from buttery flavoring in microwave popcorn.
ConAgra’s spokesperson goes on about concern for the safety of their workers, but clearly this latest move comes as a result of the link to consumer safety. The NYT provides a more telling story about worker safety:
Kenneth B. McClain, a lawyer at the Missouri firm that has represented Mr. Peoples [a worker in Missouri] and Mr. Campbell, said he had tried or settled more than 100 cases involving diacetyl and other flavorings and that more than 500 were still awaiting resolution in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Missouri and Ohio.
At a two-week trial in March 2004, lawyers for the makers of diacetyl products — International Flavors and Fragrances and its subsidiary, Bush Boake Allen — maintained that the additive did not cause Mr. Peoples’s illness and that, in any event, the popcorn company had mishandled the substance. Jurors awarded Mr. Peoples $20 million. His case, like Mr. Campbell’s, was later settled for an undisclosed amount.
Melissa I. Sachs, a spokeswoman at International Flavors and Fragrances, based in New York, declined to comment on the cases. According to its latest annual report, the company has been sued by more than 150 workers in four states.
Who said butter was bad for you? Leave it to the threat of consumer action, long after people have shown unmistakable signs of suffering or even death, for the companies to start to consider changing their formula. Where is the so-called public servant in this story?
Since George W. Bush became president, [Occupational Safety and Health Administration] OSHA has issued the fewest significant standards in its history, public health experts say. It has imposed only one major safety rule. The only significant health standard it issued was ordered by a federal court.
[…]
Instead of regulations, [head of OSHA] Mr. Foulke and top officials at other agencies favor a “voluntary compliance strategy,” reaching agreements with industry associations and companies to police themselves.
National security in decline. Mr. Bush said Iraq’s voluntary compliance strategy was a failure, without any harm linked to Americans, and yet the real deaths of Americans at home caused by unregulated chemicals seem to go unnoticed…except by those suffering and the lawyers who remain independent of the Bush administration.
Speaking of lawyers and popcorn, you might want to take a look at the ConAgra Foods Legal Policy before you browse their website. For a company producing chemicals that cause harm to their workers and consumers, they sure have a lot of regulatory emphasis around access to a simple website:
Users are prohibited from violating or attempting to violate the security of the Site, including without limitation, (a) accessing data not intended for such user or logging onto a server or an account which the user is not authorized to access; (b) attempting to probe, scan or test the vulnerability of a system or network or to breach security or authentication measures without proper authorization; (c) attempting to interfere with service to any user, host or network, including, without limitation, via means of submitting a virus to the Site, overloading, flooding, spamming, mailbombing or crashing; (d) sending unsolicited e-mail, including promotions and/or advertising of products or services; (e) forging any TCP/IP packet header or any part of the header information in any e-mail or newsgroup posting; (f) by using any device, software or routine to interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Site or any activity being conducted on the Site; or (g) by using or attempting to use any engine, software, tool, agent or other device or mechanism (including, without limitation browsers, spiders, robots, avatars or intelligent agents) to navigate or search the Site other than the search engine and search agents available from ConAgra Foods on this Site and other than generally available third party web browsers (e.g., Netscape Navigator, Microsoft Explorer). Violations of system or network security may result in civil or criminal liability. ConAgra Foods may investigate occurrences that potentially involve such violations and may involve, and cooperate with, law enforcement authorities in prosecuting users who are involved in such violations.
Forging packets bad and strictly prohibited by ConAgra. Producing poisonous chemicals for consumption that violate the security of a person…not prohibited?