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Hazard To Public Is Unclear

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By SHARON COHEN, The Associated Press

Published: October 28, 2007

A long-awaited government study that looks at chemical fumes emitted from microwaving popcorn at home - including those from diacetyl - will be published in a scientific journal in December.

The question of whether consumers could be harmed by microwave popcorn took on new significance recently. A doctor alerted federal regulatory agencies that a Colorado man who ate at least two bags every night for several years had 'significant lung disease' similar to that seen in some microwave popcorn workers.

The study, conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, took nearly three years and was completed in 2006, according to Suzanne Ackerman, an agency spokeswoman.

Some critics have questioned the time lag in making the results public as well as the EPA's decision to share the findings first with popcorn makers. Ackerman says the companies were permitted to read the report last year to make sure no competitive secrets were released.

'That was the only reason,' she says, noting that the researcher couldn't get access to their ingredients without agreeing to those terms. 'They were not allowed input into the final paper and they could not change a word of the paper - unless she the researcher had revealed a secret formula.'
Ackerman says peer reviews and a rejection by a journal also delayed release of the results.

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