WASHINGTON — Emergency safety standards are needed to counter a widening outbreak of lung disease among workers exposed to a common ingredient in microwave popcorn, health experts and labor unions said Tuesday.
The Teamsters and United Food and Commercial Workers plan to file an emergency petition today demanding that the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration set exposure limits for diacetyl, a flavoring agent used in the manufacture of artificial popcorn butter, dog food and other products.
Diacetyl has been linked to bronchiolitis obliterans, an irreversible lung disease that has afflicted scores of workers at popcorn factories and other work sites and killed at least three people in the last few years. Consumers are not believed to be at risk because they are exposed to far lower amounts of the chemical than plant workers are.
According to the unions, the Bush administration has not acted quickly enough to stop exposure, resulting in increased health risks for thousands of workers in the multibillion-dollar flavoring industry.
"The science is there, but these agencies are sitting on their hands," said David Michaels, a research professor in George Washington University's environmental and occupational health department who supports the petition. "Something needs to be done."
OSHA officials declined to comment on the petition Tuesday, but in the past the agency has indicated that workplace protections are sufficient. OSHA requires employers to provide employees "appropriate information regarding any chemicals that meet the definition of 'health hazard,' " said a spokesman, who insisted on anonymity as part of department policy.
The agency has no limits for worker exposure to diacetyl.
The Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Assn., a trade group, said the industry was moving aggressively to address concerns by conducting safety workshops. Executive Director Glenn Roberts said the group would support a safety exposure standard as long as it was based on "sound science."
He said the association would "continue to vigorously support any appropriate action that will protect workers in flavor and food manufacturing."
Concerns over diacetyl have been growing since 2000, when the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health began investigating reports of several workers with the lung disease at a popcorn plant in Jasper, Mo.
