Microwave Popcorn Remains Toxic

1/9/2010 - The Toxicologist Won't Eat Microwave Popcorn

Olga Naidenko, Ph.D., is a senior scientist for the Environmental Working Group.

The problem: Chemicals, including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), in the lining of the bag, are part of a class of compounds that may be linked to infertility in humans, according to a recent study from UCLA. In animal testing, the chemicals cause liver, testicular and pancreatic cancer. Studies show that microwaving causes the chemicals to vaporize -- and migrate into your popcorn. "They stay in your body for years and accumulate there," says Naidenko, which is why researchers worry that levels in humans could approach the amounts causing cancers in laboratory animals. DuPont and other manufacturers have promised to phase out PFOA by 2015 under a voluntary EPA plan, but millions of bags of popcorn will be sold between now and then.

The solution: Pop natural kernels the old-fashioned way: in a skillet. For flavorings, you can add real butter or dried seasonings, such as dillweed, vegetable flakes or soup mix. (Source: Prevention)

Popping your own popcorn is very inexpensive even if you are popping organic corn (best choice).  I like nutritional yeast flakes and dill, and I do use unsalted butter too.  I make mine in a large cast iron skillet with a domed glass lid, using organic popcorn and coconut oil.
 
BTW, PFOA is a fluoride containing compound!
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posted 12/11/09

Two years ago, Orville Redenbacher soared from the graveyard and announced in weeks of TV ads that his popcorn was now free of diacetyl. That's the chemical in artificial butter flavoring that has been blamed for sickening hundreds of workers, killing a handful and destroying the lungs of at least three microwave popcorn addicts.

Almost every other popcorn maker followed suit.

But now, government health investigators are reporting that the "new, safer, butter substitutes" used in popcorn and others foods are, in some cases, at least as toxic as what they replaced.

Even the top lawyer for the flavoring industry said his organization has told anyone who would listen that diacetyl substitutes are actually just another form of diacetyl.

So what is the Obama administration going to do about it? Nothing meaningful, at least for a year, it said this week, stunning unions, members of Congress, public health activists and physicians who have pleaded for government action to protect workers and consumers from the butter flavoring.

Read complete article: http://www.sphere.com/nation/article/toxic-chemical-diacetyl-still-finding-its-way-into-microwave-popcorn/19273632