美国消费者组织要求禁止食品包装使用高氯酸盐等化学物质

美国食品及药物管理局接获来自9个消费者协会的两份请愿书，内容是要求该局禁止食品包装使用两类有毒化学物质，即高氯酸盐及长链全氟化碳。高氯酸盐通常加添在食品容器的密封垫片中，亦可减少干燥食品包装中的静电。长链全氟化碳可防止油脂渗进食品包装纸和纸板，例如三文治包装纸及意式薄饼包装盒。
    
    高氯酸盐方面，请愿者要求食品及药物管理局：（1）撤销允许干燥食品包装最多可含1.2%高氯酸钠一水化合物的规定，（2）颁布一项新的食品添加剂法规，禁止在制造抗静电剂（用于食品接触类物品）时使用高氯酸盐作为传导增强剂，（3）撤销允许在食品容器密封垫片加添高氯酸钾的规定，理由是这类化学物质可能危害胎儿或婴儿的大脑发育。
    
    至于长链全氟化碳，请愿者指出，在2011年，3家公司回应食品及药物管理局的要求，停止在美国销售这类可能致癌的物质。不过，有3种可以转换成长链全氟化碳的长链化学物，或许仍在意式薄饼包装盒、三文治包装纸及其他食品包装中使用，而食药局及公众并不知悉。虽然美国国内已无生产这些化学物，但是海外生产商却有机会填补这个缺口。因此，请愿者促请食药局规定有意使用该3种长链全氟化碳的企业，在开始使用前必须向该局申报。

原文：

FDA Asked to Prohibit Certain Chemicals in Food Packaging Uses

The Food and Drug Administration has received two petitions from nine U.S. consumer associations requesting a ban on perchlorate and long-chain perfluorocarboxylates, two types of toxic chemicals used in food packaging. Perchlorate is typically added to sealing gaskets for food containers and to reduce static in dry food packaging, while long-chain perfluorocarboxylates are used to keep grease out of paper and paperboard such as pizza boxes and sandwich wrappers. 

The perchlorate petition requests that the FDA (i) revoke its allowance of as much as 1.2 percent sodium perchlorate monohydrate in dry food packaging, (ii) issue a new food additive regulation prohibiting the use of perchlorate as a conductivity enhancer in the manufacture of anti-static agents to be used in food contact articles, and (iii) remove potassium perchlorate as an allowed additive in sealing gaskets for food containers. The petitioners cite the "well-recognised toxicity of perchlorate," its "widespread presence in food and in the bodies of virtually all Americans," and "the likelihood that the dietary exposure may cause permanent damage to a foetus' or infant's brain by irreversibly altering its development." They also note that while the FDA's approval "considered only exposure from final product packaging delivered to consumers, it was so broadly written that it can be – and is – used to allow perchlorate in bulk packaging of any dry food ingredient used in food manufacturing." As a result, the petitioners contend that the uses of this chemical allowed by the FDA are not safe because there is no longer a reasonable certainty that perchlorate is not harmful under the intended conditions of use.

The petition on long-chain perfluorocarboxylates notes that in 2011 three companies agreed to an "unprecedented" FDA request, which was based on concerns about the carcinogenicity of these substances, to cease their sale and distribution of these substances in the United States. Nevertheless, three classes of long-chain chemicals that are likely to be converted to perfluorocarboxylates may still be used in pizza boxes, sandwich wrappers and other food packaging without knowledge by the FDA or the public. The petitioners note that while the shutdown of domestic production of these chemicals has minimised their use and most food product manufacturers may no longer rely on them, new overseas production in mainland China and India could easily fill the void without the FDA's knowledge. The petition therefore asks the FDA to revoke "the approvals it granted decades ago" for three specified classes of long-chain perfluorocarboxylates, which would require any company seeking to use them to notify the FDA before commencing such use.