[occ-env-med-l] House Labor Committee Passes Legislation to Protect Food Flavori

[Guest guest]

House Labor Committee Passes Legislation to Protect Food Flavoring

Workers from Severe Lung Disease*

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

http://www.house.gov/apps/list /speech/edlabor_dem/rel062007b .html

WASHINGTON, DC -- The House Education and Labor Committee approved

legislation today in a bipartisan voice vote to force the

Occupational Safety and Health Administration to act to protect

workers at food processing plants from exposure to diacetyl, a

chemical used in artificial food flavoring linked to a severe,

irreversible lung disease that has sickened and killed a number of

workers nationwide.

" Seven years after the first cases of popcorn lung were identified,

it is stunning that OSHA has failed to issue a standard protecting

American workers from exposure to diacetyl, " said Rep.

(D-CA), chairman of the committee. " The cost of the Bush

administration's failure to act can be measured in the number of

workers who have avoidably grown ill or died. It's time to stop the

delays in protecting workers from this serious workplace hazard. "

" What's troubling is that if OSHA had taken action in a timely

manner, we would not need to pass a bill to require OSHA to do

something that it should have done a long time ago, " said Rep. Lynn

Woolsey (D-CA), chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Workforce

Protections and chief sponsor of the legislation. " While OSHA has

ignored the warnings of NIOSH and others concerning this devastating

disease, workers have become sick and disabled, and several have

died, all in an astonishingly short period of time. That's why this

legislation is so important - it will save lives. I am thankful

that the committee has chosen to pass my legislation and I look

forward to bringing it to the floor. "

Diacetyl is commonly used in the artificial flavoring in microwave

popcorn, and has been linked to bronchiolitis obliterans, also known

as " popcorn lung. " Popcorn lung is a debilitating disease that has

led to dozens of workers falling sick and several deaths

nationwide. Despite the known risks, thousands of workers are still

being exposed to the harmful chemical at factories that make or use

these flavorings.

The legislation would require the Occupational Safety and Health

Administration to issue a standard within 90 days to minimize

workers' exposure to diacetyl in popcorn and flavorings

manufacturing plants. Employers would be required to develop a

written exposure control plan that would use engineering controls

and respirators to protect workers, and to conduct medical

monitoring to determine whether workers' health continued to be

harmed. The bill would require OSHA to issue a more comprehensive

standard within two years, covering all workplaces where workers are

exposed to diacetyl.

Even with scientific evidence mounting over the past five years of

the deadly properties of diacetyl, OSHA refused to begin work on a

standard to regulate workers' exposure to the chemical. The agency

has failed to issue an informational bulletin that alerts workers to

the potential hazards.

House Democrats urged the Labor Department to address this serious

health hazard in August 2006. For more information and for a copy of

the August 2006 letter from House Democrats to the Department of

Labor, click here .

The Education and Labor Committee held a hearing on popcorn lung in

April 2007. For more information, click here .

[Guest guest]

Does anyone know if this law regulates levels of exposures to this flavoring

*in movie theatres* and to 'end users'?

I have been in movie theatres a few times where the fake 'popcorn' smell was

so strong that it made me feel ill.

The poor food service workers who have to be around that all the time could

get sick - even though they don't work in a factory, they ARE exposed to

this chemical.