THE FOOD WE EAT, THE WATER WE DRINK & THE AIR WE BREATHE

The Waterloo Region Record carried the following story on August 9/16 titled "A chemical departs from fast-food". The sub-title of the story was "Restaurants are quietly ditching the yoga-mat substance". Yes you heard that right: "the yoga mat substance".

The chemical is called azocarbonamide and among its' other uses is as a dough conditioner. It is used in yoga mats, flip flops, packing insulation and unless I'm wrong I believe I've seen its'name on various lists of Chemtura Canada chemicals here in Elmira. Sounds yummy doesn't it?

While the U.S. Food & Drug Administration approves its' use in foods the European Union has banned it and the World Health Organization has linked it to asthma and other organizations suggest a cancer link.

The fast-food industry have used it for a very long time but due to bad publicity are at last removing it. Similar to water testing there has never been the ability to look at synergistic effects of various chemical compounds simultaneously. Hence while a single compound on its' own may be of minimal health concern once it is combined with other "minor" health problems all bets are off. This has long been the elephant in the room allowing multiple dangerous chemicals in low concentrations into our drinking water with virtually no knowledge as to whether together they constitute a serious health threat.