Committee on Education and Labor - U.S. House of Representatives

Popcorn Workers Lung Disease Prevention Act (Diacetyl)

In September 2007, the House of Representatives approved a measure to prevent workers in food processing plants from getting a debilitating, irreversible lung disease that has already sickened and killed a number of workers nationwide.

The Popcorn Workers Lung Disease Prevention Act would force the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to issue rules limiting workers’ exposure to diacetyl, a chemical used in artificial food flavoring for microwave popcorn and other foods. Scientists have linked diacetyl exposure to 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.

Over the past several years, hundreds of workers in popcorn and food flavoring factories have become ill and several have died from a serious, irreversible lung disease called bronchiolitis obliterans – also known as “popcorn lung.” Many of these affected workers are so sick that they need lung transplants.

Over the past seven years, dozens of studies have linked the artificial butter flavoring chemical diacetyl to the deadly lung disease. Diacetyl is used in microwave popcorn and many other foods.

In August 2006, Democrats asked the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue an emergency standard to protect workers’ health by limiting their exposure to diacetyl. OSHA refused. More »
 

NIH Confirms Diacetyl Health Threat

A study released in March 2008 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. More »