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California: More lung
damage found - Popcorn flavoring California lawmakers and
health and safety officials are working to protect workers from a
chemical used in the food industry known to cause an untreatable lung
disease. The chemical, diacetyl, is used to create artificial butter
flavoring for popcorn. Five years ago, the National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) found a strong link between
diacetyl and bronchiolitis obliterans, a disease that has disabled
scores of popcorn workers and killed at least three. Medical monitoring
in California has surfaced another 22 workers with evidence of lung
disease caused by diacetyl. Earlier this year, at
least eight workers were found to have lost nearly all lung capacity.
"These employees are very young. They are nonsmoking, and they're
Latino," said Kevin Reilly, the California Department of Health
Services' deputy director of prevention services. Officials from NIOSH
and Cal-OSHA (the state's Occupational Safety and Health Administration)
are working with flavoring companies to install ventilation systems to
minimize workers' exposure to diacetyl in factories. Cal-OSHA is also
collaborating with labor union and industry representatives on a
regulation to require companies to install chemical vapor controls in
flavoring plants. While food industry representatives say they favor
workplace regulation rather than a ban, a state Assembly committee has
approved a proposal to ban diacetyl in the workplace by 2010. [Editor's note: To track
the progress of California AB514, visit
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquery?bill_number=ab_514&sess=CUR&house=B& |