December 3, 2009 - In September 2006, the Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy (SKAPP) requested that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cancel the “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) designation for diacetyl, the butter-flavoring chemical whose vapors have caused lung disease in dozens of workers. Now, SKAPP has written to new FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg to enquire about the status of this petition and once again urge that the agency cancel diacetyl’s GRAS designation.

The original petition noted that there is compelling evidence that breathing diacetyl vapors causes lung disease, and no evidence of a safe exposure level.

“By now the Obama Administration's FDA has had a chance to investigate and gather data on cases of serious lung disease in consumers who were exposed to artificial butter flavoring,” says Celeste Monforton, a SKAPP staff member and assistant research professor at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. “We're eager to see if this FDA demonstrates a greater sense of urgency evaluating the GRAS status of diacetyl than the previous Administration.”

The letter to Dr. Hamburg notes that the evidence against diacetyl’s risk has only grown stronger over the past three years. In fact, the FDA docket created for SKAPP’s petition now includes a letter from pulmonary specialist Cecile Rose, MD, MPH documenting the case of a patient with significant lung disease similar to that seen in diacetyl-exposed workers – but whose only diacetyl exposure was from heavy daily microwave popcorn consumption.