The FDA is proposing a rule that could let some of the most toxic chemicals in the world be added directly to your food without a safety review. Chemicals could be used as flavorings, preservatives, stabilizers, and more, with no way for shoppers to know they are there. No family should have to wonder whether a chemical that can harm a child's brain development ended up in their food without a safety review and without a label.
Sign the petition urging the FDA and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to remove this expansion from the proposed rule and require a real safety review for every chemical added to food.
The proposal expands what is known as the "threshold of regulation" exemption. Today it lets companies skip safety reviews for chemicals in food packaging and equipment if they are added at extremely low levels. The new rule would allow the same exemption for chemicals added straight into food. Advocates warn that the idea that a tiny amount is harmless doesn't hold up, because many chemicals, especially ones that disrupt hormones, can cause harm at levels far below the cutoff.
We have already seen what that can look like. In 2005, a chemical company won an exemption to use perchlorate, a rocket fuel chemical, in giant grain storage bags. The FDA's own data later showed more kids' cereal samples contained perchlorate. Perchlorate interferes with the thyroid's ability to absorb iodine, which the brain needs to develop, and even low exposure has been linked to lower IQ scores in children.
Sign the petition and demand the FDA and Secretary Kennedy remove this loophole from the rule and keep toxic chemicals out of our food.
