Committee on Education and Labor : U.S. House of Representatives
A photo of Hon. George Miller, Chairman
 

Press Releases

Chairman Miller Statement on NIH Study Related to Popcorn Lung Disease

Thursday, March 13, 2008
 

WASHINGTON, DC -- A new study released today by the National Institutes of Health found that exposure to the chemical diacetyl, which is used in artificial butter flavoring, can cause lymphocytic bronchiolitis in mice at levels comparable to what workers may inhale at some microwave popcorn packaging plants. The NIH reports that lymphocytic bronchiolitis is a potential precursor to obliterative bronchiolitis, commonly called “popcorn lung”, an irreversible lung disease that has killed a number of workers in the food flavoring industry.

“We now have even more evidence to confirm that diacetyl poses a deadly risk for workers in the food flavoring industry,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee and a sponsor of the House legislation. “The question is, how much more evidence does the Bush Labor Department need before it treats this issue with the urgency it deserves? It is incomprehensible that the Department continues to drag its feet in light of the mounting evidence of the dangers of diacetyl exposure.”

Last year, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation to force the U.S. Department of Labor to limit workers’ exposure to diacetyl. In response to the House’s action, the Labor Department announced that it would begin the process of issuing workplace rules on diacetyl exposure. But already, the Labor Department is over two months behind on the schedule it set for issuing a draft rule.

BACKGROUND:

Several food manufacturers chose to remove diacetyl from microwave popcorn last year after a popcorn consumer was diagnosed with bronchiolitis obliterans.  But diacetyl continues to be used in the manufacture and use of a variety of other food products to which workers continue to be exposed.

Despite mounting evidence over several years of the dangers of popcorn lung, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a part of the Labor Department, has failed to take action to limit diacetyl exposure, prompting the need for the legislation approved by the House last year, the Popcorn Workers Lung Disease Prevention Act (H.R. 2693). For more information on the legislation, click here.

House Democrats first urged the Labor Department to address this serious health hazard in August 2006. For more information and for a copy of the August 2006 letter from House Democrats to the Department of Labor, click here.

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