1. We are what we eat: Regulatory gaps in the United States that put our health at risk
- Author
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Sarah Vogel, Thomas G. Neltner, and Maricel V. Maffini
- Subjects
Food Safety ,Physiology ,Maternal Health ,Endocrine Disruptors ,010501 environmental sciences ,030501 epidemiology ,Pediatrics ,01 natural sciences ,Endocrinology ,Pregnancy ,Agency (sociology) ,Regulation of chemicals ,Medicine and Health Sciences ,Public and Occupational Health ,Biology (General) ,Thyroid ,Perchlorates ,Health Policy ,General Neuroscience ,Child Health ,Obstetrics and Gynecology ,Chemistry ,Perspective ,Physical Sciences ,Food systems ,Anatomy ,0305 other medical science ,General Agricultural and Biological Sciences ,Chemical Elements ,Iodine ,QH301-705.5 ,Endocrine System ,Biology ,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology ,Food and drug administration ,03 medical and health sciences ,Development economics ,Humans ,Hormone transport ,Health policy ,Nutrition ,Hormone Transport ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Endocrine Physiology ,General Immunology and Microbiology ,United States Food and Drug Administration ,business.industry ,Chemical Compounds ,Biology and Life Sciences ,Food safety ,United States ,Diet ,Food ,Women's Health ,business ,Systemic problem ,Food Analysis - Abstract
The American diet has changed dramatically since 1958, when Congress gave the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to ensure the safety of chemicals in food. Since then, thousands of chemicals have entered the food system. Yet their long-term, chronic effects have been woefully understudied, their health risks inadequately assessed. The FDA has been sluggish in considering scientific knowledge about the impact of exposures-particularly at low levels and during susceptible developmental stages. The agency's failure to adequately account for the risks of perchlorate-a well-characterized endocrine-disrupting chemical-to vulnerable populations is representative of systemic problems plaguing the regulation of chemicals in food. Today, we are faced with a regulatory system that, weakened by decades of limited resources, has fallen short of fully enforcing its mandates. The FDA's inability to effectively manage the safety of hundreds of chemicals is putting our children's health at risk.
- Published
- 2017
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