According to a bulletin put out in December 2006 by ECONOMIST.com  Cancer-causing chemicals have been detected in tofu sheets, duck eggs and fish from mainland China bound for—or already in—Hong Kong. On November 25th, the Bureau of Industry and Commerce in Guangzhou, in Guangdong province, said it had found traces of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, and boric acid, a dangerous pesticide, in about one-third of the bean-curd sheets it had tested. Both chemicals are banned in food production on the mainland. This is a particular concern for Hong Kong, because up to half the city's bean-curd sheets are imported from the mainland—mostly from Guangdong.

Duck eggs containing Sudan Red, a banned carcinogenic dye, have also turned up in Hong Kong shops, despite assurances from York Chow, the local Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, that none had been imported. And in late November malachite green, a carcinogenic antibiotic, was again found in freshwater fish farmed on the mainland. Traces of the chemical have been found in imported fish since August 2005, when a host of species were temporarily taken off the menu. These discoveries have prompted calls for stricter food regulation and for another round of meetings between the city’s food-safety officials and their mainland counterparts.

Stay away from French fries and spring rolls - that's the message from the government.

The call came after members of the Legislative Council were told that fried foods generated high levels of a cancer-causing chemical which could also result in nerve damage.

The council's food panel meeting was told yesterday a study showed that many popular Chinese fried foods like fritters and spring rolls produced high levels of acrylamide, a chemical which can cause cancer in animals and which has a toxic effect on the nervous systems of humans.

Among Western foods, fried potato chips were found to contain the highest level of the chemical, according to a study by the Swedish National Food Administration (NFA) in April last year.

Others with high levels of the chemical included cookies and toast.

The study also found the chemical is formed when foods, particularly those rich in carbohydrates, are cooked at temperatures above 120 degrees Celsius. Raw foods and foods prepared by boiling do not contain appreciable levels of acrylamide. Acrylamide has long been used to make polyacrylamide materials which have a variety of industrial uses, including the treatment of drinking and waste water, and the manufacture of plastics, paper and cosmetics.

However, the World Health Organisation's (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer said, so far, there was no evidence to show that the chemical was carcinogenic to humans though it was known to cause cancer in animals. But it has been found to cause nerve damage in people who have long-term exposure to high doses at work.

The WHO has established a safe intake level of 0.5ug/kg body weight per day concerning its effects on the nervous system. The dietary intake of the chemical in a Western diet ranged from 0.3 to 0.8 ug/kg body weight per day.

Following the NFA's study, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department conducted a study on 450 samples of starch-containing Asian style foods cooked at high temperatures, including fried rice, fried noodles, fried dim sum, fried squid, deep fried taro dumpling, spring rolls, grilled sausages, deep-fried fish balls, instant noodles and snacks such as potato crisps.

It showed most Asian food products had low levels of acrylamide compared with Western style foods.

But high levels of acrylamide were found in some products, such as deep-fried taro dumplings (190 ug/kg), fried fritters (130 ug/kg), spring rolls (60 ug/kg) guo-ba (67 ug/kg), Japanese teppan-yaki soba (84 ug/kg), and Indonesian style grilled fish slices (93 ug/kg).

``Local staple food such as rice and noodles that had been subjected to frying, deep-frying and baking had a median level of less than 3 ug/kg, while breads such as sandwich bread, pineapple buns, deep-fired buns and toast had a median level of less than 10 ug/kg,'' consultant (community medicine) for the department, Ho Yuk-yin, said.

Instant noodles, popular snack food items such as grilled sausages, deep-fried fish balls and deep fried octopus had levels of less than 3 ug/kg. The study found that food cooked at lower temperatures or longer frying times produced lower levels of the chemical. ``For example, the acrylamide level in a fried fritter sample reached 280ug/kg after being fried at 210 degrees Celsius for five minutes. But the product prepared at a frying temperature of 170 degrees Celsius for 12 minutes produced a lower level of 150 ug/kg even though the brownness was the same,'' Ho said.  - Cannix Yau  Hong Kong Standard   25 June 2003

We threw away our McCains French Fries and Cheerios after watching a story on CBC Marketplace

Acrylamide is well known - it’s used in making synthetic rubber and plastic. But the discovery of acrylamide in food is so new - no one knows if the levels found are safe. What is known, is that acrylamide causes cancer in animals     -   CBC   

- Wendy Misley  CBC Marketplace     14 January 2003

Toxic chemicals common in body 

When scientists sampled Andrea Martin’s blood and urine to see what toxins she’d picked up from the world around her, she got a surprise. “I had 95 chemical contaminants in my little body. And it was very mind blowing,” said Martin. The test results indicate that we all pick up tiny amounts of an astounding number of chemicals that are known to be dangerous in larger doses. 

Martin and eight others were tested by Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York and an advocacy organization called the Environmental Working Group.

On average, the nine participants had traces of 53 chemicals known to cause cancer in human or animal tests. In addition, they had an average of 62 chemicals toxic to the brain or nervous system, plus 55 associated with birth defects.

The scientists did not find any single substance in amounts the government describes as unhealthy, but said the sheer number of chemicals was unnerving, especially given the uncertainty about the health effects of trace amounts.

”(This is) irrefutable proof that humans carry in their bodies scores of industrial contaminants, most of which didn’t exist 75 years ago,” said Jane Houlihan, co-author of the study. 

Scientists have found chemicals called pthalates, which are known to cause birth defects in animals, in many personal care items like makeup, hairspray, soap and also plastic food wrap.

Other chemicals found in the participants’ bodies target the nervous system, including:

• Acetone in nail polish

• Synthetic fragrances in perfume and soap

• Poisons in weed killers and bug sprays

• Perchloral ethyline in dry cleaners

• Zylene in paint, which can also cause organ damage

Some chemical manufacturers called the study nothing but hype.

“I think it was an attempt to be more alarmist than necessary, and sort of over-inflate the message and the facts,” said Jay Vroom of Croplife America. 

But for those intent on avoiding even traces of toxic chemicals, the study’s authors suggest eating organic produce, minimizing fatty foods since chemicals concentrate in body fat, minimizing the use of beauty products, avoiding stain removers and avoiding seafood known to be high in mercury.      

These precautions may be more hassle than many care to deal with, but the scientists in charge of the study say it is amazing how many potentially toxic chemicals get in our bodies.

Biomonitoring our bodies
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have embraced "biomonitoring." The technology allows researchers to measure chemicals directly in blood and urine rather than having to rely on exposure estimates based on air, water or soil samples. 

Water
Trihalomethanes, chemicals that evaporate easily into the air, are thought to be linked to birth defects, bladder cancer, and colorectal cancer. Formed during the water sanitation process, they are often found in drinking water. The CDC's lab developed a way to measure trihalomethanes in blood, and it's being used in studies to find out how much enters people's bodies and whether the chemicals are causing illness.

Tobacco Smoke
The CDC's lab developed ways to measure cotinine -- a chemical formed by the breakdown of cigarette nicotine in the body -- in saliva, blood, and urine. These methods are being used to find out: how much secondhand smoke is getting into children, adolescents and adults; what levels of chemicals in tobacco smoke cause health problems; how well actions to protect people from secondhand smoke are working; and how well actions to help smokers stop smoking are working   - Robert Hager   NBC News     30 Jan 2003

Copyright ©  2009
By opening this page you accept our Privacy and Terms & Conditions