High Fructose Corn Syrup Contaminated with Toxic Mercury,
Says Research by Mike Adams, NaturalNews Editor (NaturalNews)
New research published in Environmental Health and conducted in part by a scientist at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy has revealed that high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is contaminated with the toxic heavy metal mercury.That means that many of the products using HFCS may also be contaminated with mercury.
Carbonated sodas are sweetened with HFCS, as are candy bars, bread, salad dressings, pizza sauce, fruit drinks and thousands of other grocery items.Mercury is so highly toxic that it causes severe neurological disorders. It can also result in the loss of hair, teeth and nails as well as muscle weakness, loss of kidney function, emotional mood swings and memory impairment. (http://en.wikipedia .org/wiki/ Mercur…) (P.S. Somebody please update this Wikipedia page with this latest research about HFCS being a source for mercury exposure, too.)The highest level of contamination found in the study (http://www.ehjourna l.net/content/ 8/1/2) was 0.57 micrograms of mercury per gram of HFCS.
The EPA says that an average-sized woman should consume no more than 5.5 micrograms per day of mercury, meaning that the average American consumer may be eating five times the upper safety limit of mercury every day due to high-fructose corn syrup consumption if they consume the foods tested in the study.That’s because the average American consumes 12 teaspoons of HFCS every day! So just by eating the standard American diet of processed foods, consumers are right now potentially exposing themselves to exceedingly high levels of mercury that far surpass the safety limits set by the EPA.
Buy groceries, get free mercury!
High-fructose corn syrup is used in almost everything, it seems. A second study conducted by David Wallinga, M.D., entitled “Not So Sweet: Missing Mercury and High Fructose Corn Syrup” (http://healthobserv atory.org/ librar…) reveals that nearly one-third of all grocery items sweetened with HFCS were contaminated with mercury.Eating some sweetened yogurt? Mercury!How about some salad dressing with HFCS? Mercury!Want some ketchup on that burger? Mercury!
In fact, mercury is found in thousands of grocery products sold across the world right now. And it’s no exaggeration to say that mainstream consumers of popular food items are likely suffering from widespread mercury poisoning (especially if you add in the mercury exposure they’re getting from dental fillings).
Politics at the FDA
There’s an angle on this story that nobody is yet reporting. The lead author of this study, Renee Dufault, used to work for the FDA. In fact, she investigated the use of mercury at chlorine plants, where the manufacturing process results in the chlorine being contaminated with mercury. With chlorine being dumped into the public water supply, this is obviously a health concern.Renee Dufault retired from the FDA last year.
Only now, nearly a year after her retirement, has she dared to release her findings about mercury and high-fructose corn syrup.Can you guess why? As an employee of the FDA, there’s little question she would have been pressured into silence about the HFCS mercury contamination issue. A lot of powerful corporations that wield steady influence over the FDA would not be happy to see the truth come out about HFCS and mercury. So she waited until after retiring from the FDA to go public with these findings.In fact, Reuters is now reporting that Dufault told the FDA about her findings, but the agency did nothing to act on them. Is anybody really surprised?
Did the CRA know about the mercury contamination of HFCS?But let’s give the CRA the benefit of the doubt for a minute here. Let’s suppose that right up to 2005, HFCS was routinely contaminated with mercury, but now suddenly it’s all mercury free.Doesn’t anybody wonder why didn’t the CRA recall the mercury-contaminate d HFCS when it became aware of the issue?If all HFCS is now manufactured in a mercury-free process (which is highly doubtful, by the way), then that means at some point the CRA must have realized HFCS was contaminated with mercury and it made a decision to switch to a mercury-free process.
Why was the public never warned about the pre-2006 mercury in HFCS? And why weren’t foods containing HFCS recalled from store shelves due to their mercury content?If the CRA’s present-day statements are to be believed, it means the group must have been aware of the mercury contamination of HFCS through 2005 and yet it did nothing to make that fact known to the public.So even if HFCS is free from mercury today, the CRA has a lot of explaining to do. The group either knew about the mercury contamination and did nothing to warn the public, or it didn’t know about the mercury contamination, putting it in a position of remarkable ignorance about the safety of a product it has routinely claimed to be “safe” and “natural” for many years.So which is it? Is the CRA run by liars, or just fools?My offer for a phone interview with a CRA representative remains open.
If anybody from the CRA wants to get on the phone with me and defend HFCS, the door is wide open. You know how to reach me.Disclaimer: This article is an opinion piece. All statements are my own opinion and are obviously not agreed to by the CRA, which vigorously defends the safety of HFCS. Almost as if their jobs depended on it, come to think….Sources for this story: