Food Additives and Child Health

Details

• Personal Author:
  Sathyanarayana S ; Shaffer RM ; Trasande L
• Description:
  Our purposes with this policy statement and its accompanying technical report are to review and highlight emerging child health concerns related to the use of colorings, flavorings, and chemicals deliberately added to food during processing (direct food additives) as well as substances in food contact materials, including adhesives, dyes, coatings, paper, paperboard, plastic, and other polymers, which may contaminate food as part of packaging or manufacturing equipment (indirect food additives); to make reasonable recommendations that the pediatrician might be able to adopt into the guidance provided during pediatric visits; and to propose urgently needed reforms to the current regulatory process at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for food additives. Concern regarding food additives has increased in the past 2 decades, in part because of studies in which authors document endocrine disruption and other adverse health effects. In some cases, exposure to these chemicals is disproportionate among minority and low-income populations. Regulation and oversight of many food additives is inadequate because of several key problems in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Current requirements for a "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS) designation are insufficient to ensure the safety of food additives and do not contain sufficient protections against conflict of interest. Additionally, the FDA does not have adequate authority to acquire data on chemicals on the market or reassess their safety for human health. These are critical weaknesses in the current regulatory system for food additives. Data about health effects of food additives on infants and children are limited or missing; however, in general, infants and children are more vulnerable to chemical exposures. Substantial improvements to the food additives regulatory system are urgently needed, including greatly strengthening or replacing the "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS) determination process, updating the scientific foundation of the FDA's safety assessment program, retesting all previously approved chemicals, and labeling direct additives with limited or no toxicity data. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Children Endocrine Function Food Additives Food Colors Health Effects Policy
• ISSN:
  0031-4005
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  New York ; OSHA Region 10 ; OSHA Region 2 ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  142
• Issue:
  2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20055699
• Citation:
  Pediatrics 2018 Aug; 142(2):e20181408
• Contact Point Address:
  Leonardo Trasande, MD, MPP, FAAP, Pediatrics, Environmental Medicine, and Health Policy, School of Medicine, New York University, New York, New York
• Email:
  Leonardo.Trasande@nyumc.org
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2018
• Performing Organization:
  New York University School of Medicine
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20170701
• Source Full Name:
  Pediatrics
• End Date:
  20210630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:53634faaa389380b358f3143153c4bab5608691e4de0210a9eaf9f6f50a7d49196d0368a30eefb3639149d75a0a0d3593e6ae7d1d933f2bd0721eeef574ac57e
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/213487/cdc_213487_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 787.38 KB ]