Lining the shelves of American supermarkets are food products with chemicals linked to health concerns. To a great extent, the FDA allows food companies to determine for themselves whether their ingredients and additives are safe.
Companies don’t have to tell the FDA about those decisions, and they don’t have to list all ingredients on their product labels. Instead, companies can use broad terms such as “artificial flavors.”
In 1958, Congress mandated that before additives could be used in foods manufacturers had to prove they were safe and get FDA approval. However, Congress carved out an exception for substances “generally recognized as safe,” which came to be known simply as GRAS.
As conceived, GRAS promised regulatory relief for standard ingredients like salt, sugar, vinegar, and baking powder. Over time, “the loophole swallowed the law,” said a 2014 Natural Resources Defense Council report.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants to close or tighten the GRAS loophole. He has railed about the risks of food additives for years and has said he wants to end “the mass poisoning of American children.”
Whether changes come from the FDA or the food companies, it’s clear Americans are becoming more concerned about what they’re buying.
Credits
- David Hilzenrath Reporter
- Hannah Norman Video producer & animator
- Oona Zenda Art director & illustrator
 This article was reprinted from khn.org, a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF – the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism. |
News
Novel Investment Paradigms for Regenerative Healthcare Ecosystems
Introduction The transition toward regenerative healthcare ecosystems—anchored in wellness optimization, disease prevention, eradication strategies, and healthy longevity—necessitates a structural reconfiguration of capital architectures, governance models, and incentive design. Regenerative healthcare, by definition, transcends episodic [...]
What If Consciousness Exists Beyond Your Brain
Scientists still don’t know how consciousness emerges from the brain. New ideas suggest it may not emerge at all, but instead be a basic feature of reality. Is consciousness produced by the brain, or [...]
Scientists Discover Way To Treat Lung Cancer and Its Deadly Side Effect Together
A new approach using lipid nanoparticles to deliver genetic material is showing promise in tackling two major challenges in lung cancer at once.Researchers at Oregon State University have designed a new way to tackle two of [...]
Saunas Activate Your Immune System
A brief sauna session may quietly mobilize the immune system. A sauna session may do more than raise your heart rate and body temperature. A new study from Finland found that it also briefly [...]
Why music from your youth still has such an intense effect years later: A psychological perspective
You're driving, and suddenly a familiar song fills the air. Before you even know it, a wave of emotions comes over you – not just memories, but a deep, almost physical feeling. This powerful [...]
AI to antibody in days: breaking the wet lab bottleneck via high-throughput integration
The role of artificial intelligence (AI) in drug design has fundamentally shifted from a speculative tool to a central pillar of pharmaceutical research and development (R&D). Sino Biological plays a critical role in this [...]
Regenerative Healthcare by Design: Engineering Health-Centric Buildings and Urban Ecosystems
Introduction The next evolution of healthcare will not be confined to hospitals, clinics, or episodic interventions—it will be embedded into the infrastructure of everyday life. Regenerative health ecosystems require a systemic re-architecture of how [...]
Scientists Warn: Humanity Has Pushed the Planet Past Its Limits
Human population and consumption have surpassed Earth’s limits, increasing risks to climate and global stability. The Earth is already operating beyond its capacity to sustainably support the global population, according to new research highlighting [...]
Breakthrough Study Reveals Why Damaged Nerves Struggle To Heal
A newly identified molecular mechanism reveals how neurons weigh survival against repair after injury. Scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have identified a molecular switch in neurons that limits the regrowth of [...]
Popular Vitamin B3 Supplements May Help Cancer Cells Survive, Scientists Warn
A new study raises important questions about widely used NAD+ supplements, suggesting that compounds often taken to boost energy and support healthy aging may have unintended consequences in cancer treatment. Millions of Americans take [...]
Scientists Discover Cancer Tumors Are “Addicted” to This Common Antioxidant
Cancer cells may be exploiting a common antioxidant as fuel, revealing a potential weakness that future therapies could target. Cancer cells may be tapping into an unexpected energy source: an antioxidant long associated with [...]
Nanotube injector transfers cytoplasmic contents and organelles between living cells safely
Cells are not isolated units; they continuously exchange proteins, genetic material, and even entire organelles with their neighbors. Intercellular transfer influences how tissues develop, respond to stress, and repair damage. In certain cancers, for [...]
CEO of America’s largest public hospital system is ready to replace radiologists with AI
The chief executive of America’s largest public hospital system says he is prepared to start replacing radiologists with artificial intelligence in some circumstances, once the regulatory landscape catches up. Mitchell H. Katz, MD, president [...]
Our books now available worldwide!
Online Sellers other than Amazon, Routledge, and IOPP Indigo Global Health Care Equivalency in the Age of Nanotechnology, Nanomedicine and Artifcial Intelligence Global Health Care Equivalency In The Age Of Nanotechnology, Nanomedicine And Artificial [...]
Study finds higher heart disease risk in long COVID patients
People with long COVID are at increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease, according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in eClinicalMedicine. The results show that the risk of conditions such as cardiac arrhythmias [...]
The Corona variant Cicada is here – we know that
Online and on social media, reports are piling up about a new Sars-Cov-2 variant that is currently on the rise: BA.3.2, also known as Cicada. That's what it's all about: The Omicron variant BA.3.2, [...]
