Popcorn threat alert
p2pnet news | Off Topic:- Could a new threat be awaiting home movie-watchers?
Perhaps.
It centres on popcorn and No, it has nothing to do with Rick Cotton, promoter of Peer Impact and NBC Universal’s general counsel, and the man who leads the Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy’s Campaign to Protect America.
This summer, “In the absence of movie piracy,” cinemas would, “sell more tickets and popcorn,” he stated unequivocally.
But it’s not that. Instead, fumes from buttery flavoring in microwaved popcorn – note, ‘buttery flavouring,’ not ‘butter’ – could cause lung disease, say specialists at Denver’s National Jewish Medical and Research Center, says Associated Press.
Doctors there, “believe they have the first case of a consumer who developed lung disease from the fumes of microwaving popcorn several times a day for years,” says the story, quoting Dr Cecile Rose
“We cannot be sure that this patient’s exposure to butter flavored microwave popcorn from daily heavy preparation has caused his lung disease,” she says, but, “we have no other plausible explanation.”
And, “We’ve all been working on the workplace safety side of this, but the potential for consumer exposure is very concerning,” the New York Times has John B. Hallagan, general counsel for the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association of the United States, a trade association of companies that make butter flavorings for popcorn producers, saying. “Are there other cases out there? There could be.”
Rose said the sick man had eaten “several bags of extra butter flavored microwave popcorn” every day for several years, states AP.
The Food and Drug Administration said it’s considering the case as part of a review of the safety of diacetyl, which adds the buttery taste to many microwave popcorns, including Orville Redenbacher and Act II, says the NYT.
But, “Producers of microwave popcorn said their products were safe, says the story, in which Stephanie Childs, a spokeswoman for ConAgra Foods, the America’s largest maker of microwave popcorn declaring:
“We’re incredibly interested in learning more about this case. However, we are confident that our product is safe for consumers’ normal everyday use in the home.”
Also See:
more tickets and popcorn – Hollywood plan to save corn farmers, June 27, 2007
Associated Press – Doctor Warns Consumers of Popcorn Fumes, September 4, 2007
New York Times – Doctor Links a Man’s Illness to a Microwave Popcorn Habit, September 5, 2007
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September 5th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
“We cannot be sure that this patient’s exposure to butter flavored microwave popcorn from daily heavy preparation has caused his lung disease,” she says, but, “we have no other plausible explanation.”
Maybe the fact that he’s been eating tons of microwaved buttery crap every friggin’ day. I’m astonished that he doesn’t have heart disease from all that saturated fat.