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Most popular products in the U.S. contain a highly toxic chemical
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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Chemical companies continue to pressure legislators to push dangerous chemicals into the food industry
U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg has introduced the Safer Chemicals Act, which would require chemical manufacturers to provide evidence that their products are safe for domestic food production. It would seem like a legal requirement, and yet U.S. law has not addressed this issue to date.
A recent study of popular grocery store products found that at least 50 percent of samples of peanut butter and deli meats (including turkey, fish, beef, and various fats) contained traces of a substance used in architectural construction as a fire retardant in insulation.
You may ask, how did the building material end up in the products on store shelves? Experts have suggested that HBCD (hexabromocyclododecane) can enter food through air, water or soil.
Arlene Blum, executive director of the Green Science Policy Institute, commented on the data:
- These substances can migrate as dust and end up in wastewater. Then, flowing into the sea, they penetrate into seafood, and when irrigation water is contaminated by wastewater, they penetrate into crops grown in fields and livestock.
In fact, any use of these substances means a potential risk of contamination of food produced in the region.
Traces of the flame retardant HBCD have been found in most popular foods. According to the EPA, this flame retardant is “highly toxic” to marine life and can interfere with hormonal processes and reproductive function in humans. Once in the human body, the chemical binds to fatty tissue and can persist there for many years.
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