BPA: decreased sexual desire [among men], more difficulty having an erection, lower ejaculation strength

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Nearly all cans used by the U.S. beverage industry contain bisphenol A, commonly known as BPA. Here's how Scientific American describes it: "In recent years dozens of scientists around the globe have linked BPA to myriad health effects in rodents: mammary and prostate cancer, genital defects in males, early onset of puberty in females, obesity, and even behavior problems such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder." The Canadian government recently declared BPA toxic. A peer-reviewed study financed by health-care giant Kaiser Permanante found that BPA is associated with "decreased sexual desire [among men], more difficulty having an erection, lower ejaculation strength and lower level of overall satisfaction with sex life."

What's the FDA doing to get it out of our cans? Not much of anything, as Tom Laskawy reported last year. For an in-depth look at the agency's dithering, contradictory approach to BPA, check out its own report on the topic. Short version: BPA is pretty scary, but it's so widely used, and used in so many forms, we haven't the foggiest idea of how to remove it from the food supply. So we won't try.

So Diet Coke and its brethren get their flavor from a dodgy sweetener and are packaged in a dodgy vessel. And now the Center for Science in the Public Interest is telling us that its color, too, can kill us. How bad is it? When you think of "caramel," you probably imagine cooking sugar until it turns brown. But that's not quite what soda manufacturers do to blacken carbonated water for cola. According to CSPI, here's what they do:

Caramel Color IV (synonyms: ammonia sulfite process caramel, sulfite ammonia caramel, sulfite ammonia process caramel, acid-proof caramel, beverage caramel, and soft-drink caramel) is prepared by the controlled heat treatment of carbohydrates with ammonium-containing and sulfite-containing compounds.

So, they take carbohydrates and cook them up with ammonia-based chemicals. In addition to dark color, the process also yields a carcinogenic chemical called 4-methylimidazole, or 4-MI for short. CSPI points to studies on both rats and mice fed 4-MI showing significant carcinogenic effects.

Evidence of 4-MI's cancer-causing power is so strong, CSPI points out, that just last month, the state of California added [PDF] the substance to its list of "chemicals known to the state to cause cancer." "California has determined that [4-MI] levels above 16 micrograms per day pose a significant risk," CSPI reports. How much is in a can of cola? According to CSPI, 130 micrograms -- eight times higher than California's danger threshold. Drink two cans per day, and you're ingesting 16 times the level deemed dangerous by California.

When I was posting about these topics this morning on Twitter, one response I got was an exasperated, "Is anything safe?" Well, yes, there are plenty of things that are safe to consume. It's just that diet -- and regular -- sodas are evidently full of unsafe substances, and should probably be avoided. If the FDA were doing its job, the millions of people who consume these substances daily would at least know what they're subjecting themselves to.

http://www.grist.org...t-soda-kill-you

[Obama 2012 1,714]

so educate people on small 'risks' of things.

No need for the FDA to do a damn thing but educate. Banning a product because of some alleged side-effect on a few people is reactionary stupidity.

I'd worry more about HFCS than BPA if anything anyway...