It really seems that producers of aerated waters have got into a pretty mess now. The governmental agencies, taking control of food products in the USA, England, Germany and many other countries are worried about the frightening discovery. Their fears are well grounded as benzol can induce malignant diseases of the blood (leukemia) and the lymphatic system (lymphoma).
“Certainly, aerated waters contain such doses of benzol that exert a chronic toxic influence, not an acute one”, says Yuri Ostapenko, director of the Scientifically-practical and toxicological center of Russian health services and the chief toxicologist of Moscow, “But there’s nothing good about it. Chronic influence of benzol can result in cancer, diseases of the kidneys and liver, it can inhibit the blood making process. To determine the exact risk, we need to carry out further researches”.
Aerated waters are actively tested in the governmental laboratories of the USA and Europe. Lots of beverages contain up to 25-50 mkg of benzol per I liter, that’s 2,5-5 times more than the upper limit, accepted for drinking water by World Health Organization. If such benzol water were running from our kitchen taps, officials would probably raise the alarm and warn the population of the danger of drinking this water. As for carbonated beverages, everything is different, even their names are not divulged. That means, each of us risks buying and drinking a carcinogenic beverage.
For the first time, large doses of benzol were found in aerated waters as far back as 1990 in the USA. Then, producers promised the authorities to settle the problem quietly, without a row, and remove the dangerous substance from the composition of their beverages. For fifteen years, the officials had waited for the promise to be kept. If it hadn’t been for one event, they would still be waiting. One of the chemists, who worked in a large company, producing soft drinks, arranged a drain of confidential papers on the benzol problem. Besides, he conducted an independent trial of aerated waters and again found benzol in them. After that, nothing remained to officials from American Food and Drug Administration, but to start a new investigation.
For a decade and a half, the problem had been kept silent about so efficiently that even European experts had known nothing about it. When in 1998 -1999 in Belgium, France and Germany benzol was accidentally found in aerated waters, producers tried to convince officials that their suppliers had let them down with carbon dioxide, polluted with benzol. In Russian Research Institute of Nutrition this version is considered correct and it’s believed that present day benzol can be of the same origin.
It’s necessary to change the composition.
Still, it’s hard to believe that it wasn’t a real deception, as since 1990, producers have perfectly known the mechanism of how benzol is formed in bottles. Two substances are necessary for this process: sodium benzoate, used as a preservative, and ascorbic acid (vitamin C). At that time, American chemists discovered reactions, as a result of which a benzene ring breaks away from benzoic acid and simultaneously, water and carbonic acid are formed.
This process is favored by certain storage conditions of aerated waters. If they’re stored in a warm place or exposed to the light, benzol is formed in larger quantities. For instance, in confidential papers of one company, published in the press, we can see such figures: a bottle of a dietary low-calorie carbonated beverage contained 25 mkg of benzol, after it was exposed to the light at 30° , the content of the carcinogen became three times higher – 82 mkg. By the way, dietary carbonated beverages, made with sugar substitutes, turned out to be the most carcinogenic beverages. The irony of fate is that such drinks are much in demand among people, leading a healthy way of life. Though, avoiding extra calories, they consume more toxic benzol.
On the whole, the consumption of fizzy drinks in Russia is rapidly increasing. If in Soviet times, “Lemonade”, “Duchess Pear” and all kinds of “Buratino” were holiday drinks, now, carbonated beverages are used every day, sometimes they’re the main source of liquid. By the way, Soviet carbonated beverages were less dangerous than present-day drinks, as they didn’t contain preservatives, so, there was no benzol in them.
“Probably, producers of carbonated beverages have to change the composition of their drinks”, says Yuri Ostapenko. The same opinion is expressed be western experts. Though, it will be hard to find a preservative that would be as effective as benzol.
By the way, benzoic acid and vitamin C can gather in many other products - cheap juices, tinned and bottled fruit and vegetables, fish products, margarines, mayonnaises, etc. All these products are of a special interest to experts, and maybe, we’ll soon hear about new rows concerning these products.
Another opinion is:
Vadim ALTAYEV, president of the Union of producers of soft drinks:
- Admitting that there exists a problem with benzol getting in food products, we’re going to take special measures to exclude the possibility of polluting drinks with this substance. Though, the main source of benzol is the air that we breathe. A city dweller daily consumes about 400 mkg of benzol, only 5% of which is in food products. The risk of soft drinks being polluted with benzol is so insufficient that nobody in the world knows definite figures as to the maximum permissible concentration of this substance. There are no reliable methods to define it in ready-made products. Besides, benzol can get into the body with our drinking water.
By the way, the maximum permissible norms of benzol content in water, accepted by WHO and existing in Russia are 10 mkg per 1 liter, in the USA – 5mkg per 1 liter, in the countries of the European Union – 1mkg per 1litre.
“Argumenti i Fakti” # 11 (1324), March 15, 2006
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