House passes HR2693 - Food Flavoring Workers protected from diacetyl that causes severe lung damage

Jordan Barab writes to tell us that by an overwhelming vote of 260 to 154, the U.S. House of Representatives has approved legislation that will help prevent workers in food processing plants from getting a debilitating, irreversible lung disease from butter flavouring diacetyl . A problem known of for over 7 years by OSHA that has already sickened and killed a number of workers nationwide.

HR 2693 (Popcorn Workers Lung Disease Prevention Act ) will force the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration OSHA to issue rules limiting workers' exposure to diacetyl which is directly linkedto bronchiolitis obliterans, a severe lung disease often known as "popcorn lung." Despite mounting evidence over several years of the dangers of popcorn lung, OSHA has failed to take action to limit diacetyl exposure, prompting the need for the legislation approved by the House today.

"Seven years after the first cases of popcorn lung were identified, it is stunning that OSHA has failed to protect American workers from this horrible disease," said Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the committee. "The cost of the Bush administration's failure to act can be measured in the number of workers who have avoidably grown ill or died. This legislation is critical to stop the delays in protecting workers from this serious workplace hazard."

"It's a travesty that OSHA has done nothing to regulate this chemical, while workers have fallen seriously ill and some have actually died," said Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections and chief sponsor of the legislation.
Thousands of workers are still being exposed to diacetyl at factories that make or use food flavorings.

1. Employers will now have to develop a written exposure control plan that would use engineering controls and respirators to protect workers, and to conduct medical monitoring to determine whether workers' health continued to be harmed.

2. OSHA has to, within 2 years issued a more comprehensive standard , covering all workplaces where workers may be exposed to diacetyl.


House Democrats urged the Labor Department to address this serious health hazard in August 2006.

See "Microwaving popcorn at home - potential harmful if not fatal"

The food processing giant Con Agra (the world's biggest producer of popcorn) have just announced that they will change the recipe for its Orville Redenbacher and Act II brands over the next year to remove diacetyl as a flavouring chemical.

Conagra sells 3 billion bags of microwave popcorn worldwide annually. Americans wolf down 39 million pounds, or about 156 million bags every year, according to the Snack Manufacturers Association.