Consumers Call on Retailers, Manufacturers to Stop Selling Soft Drinks Tainted with Benzene

24/05/06 California consumers have joined the nation-wide fight against beverage manufacturers and retailers responsible for distributing soft drinks containing high levels of the known carcinogen benzene. California is one of the most recent of several states, including Massachusetts, Florida, Kansas, New Jersey, and Washington, DC, to witness suits filed against the beverage manufacturers Pepsico, Kraft Foods, Coca- Cola, Safeway and others whose products contain benzene.

On Tuesday, consumers in California filed suit against Safeway, a major manufacturer and retailer of soft drinks, insisting that they stop selling their benzene-tainted products and refund consumers' money. Safeway Select Diet Orange contained 79.2 parts per billion (ppb) of benzene according to the FDA, 16 times the EPA limit of 5 ppb for drinking water. Safeway is both the manufacturer and retailer for Safeway beverages. The company also distributes products made by Pepsico, Kraft Foods, and Sunny Delight Beverage Company that the FDA says contain benzene.

"When I read about the soft drinks that contained the chemicals, I was astonished. Some of these are drinks that my son likes, and that I have in my refrigerator," said California plaintiff Karen Sheehy. "What bothers me the most is that these companies should know they are selling soft drinks containing toxic chemicals."

"Safeway must immediately notify consumers that these beverages contain unsafe levels of benzene, inform consumers of the serious health risks associated with exposure to benzene, remove these beverages from store shelves, and issue refunds to all purchasers," said Larry Gornick of Levin Simes Kaiser & Gornick LLP, attorney for the California plaintiff.

This week consumers in New Jersey and Florida filed suits against manufacturers of products that contain benzene levels well above the 1 ppb benzene limit for safe drinking water for those states. Consumers from both states have cited in their suits Pepsico, Coca-Cola, Kraft Foods, Sunny Delight Beverage Co., Talking Rain Beverages, Meridian Beverage Co., and Faygo Beverages Inc.

Researchers believe that benzene forms when two commonly found soft drink ingredients, ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and the preservative sodium benzoate react. Excessive levels of the colorless solvent benzene can be created when soft drinks containing these ingredients are exposed to heat or light.

"We're heading into the summer, and people have these products sitting in their garage," said Steve Sheller, of Sheller, Ludwig and Badey, P.C., the attorney in the New Jersey suit. "The longer they sit there, and the warmer it gets, the more likely it is that they'll be drinking benzene."

"These beverage manufacturers are putting our children at risk by carelessly using these chemicals in their soft drinks," said Neil Sader of Sader & Garvin LLC, the attorney representing the Kansas plaintiff. "These corporations must either remove benzene from their drinks, or remove their products from store shelves."

"We should know if there is poison in our drinks," said Lisbeth Gordon, plaintiff in the Florida case. "These corporate giants must act as responsible citizens and recall these benzene-laden drinks and refund our money."

The FDA revealed last Friday that their tests of 100 sample soft drinks http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/benzdata.html) found several popular beverages including Crystal Light Sunrise Orange, made by Kraft Foods, and Safeway Select Diet Orange, made by Safeway Brands, contained levels of benzene far above the EPA limit for drinking water. The FDA analysis showed that Crystal Light Sunrise Orange contained 87.9 ppb, nearly 18 times the EPA limit for drinking water, while Safeway Select Diet Orange contained 79.2 ppb.

"The FDA confirmed on Friday that there are products in the marketplace right now that may contain levels of benzene above the safe drinking water limit. While the FDA claims that these products 'have been reformulated or are being reformulated,' consumers have no way to know which is which and when a product change was made," said Andrew Rainer of the Boston law firm McRoberts Roberts and Rainer. "Kraft Foods, for example, has told the FDA that it re-formulated its Crystal Light and Koolaid Jammers products, but the FDA did not report what change was made or when."

Independent test results released last month revealed that other popular beverage manufacturers had products above the 5 ppb EPA limit. As a result, class action suits were already filed in Washington, DC, Boston, MA, Kansas City, KS, and Tallahassee, FL against these companies.

"There is no way for consumers to know if the products they buy contain benzene," said Tim Howard the attorney in the Florida case. "The only way to keep the public safe is for the manufacturers and retailers to pull these products off the shelves and reimburse consumers for the soft drinks that are sitting in peoples' homes right now."

According to the United State Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), nervous system disorders and immune system damage can occur following short periods of exposure to Benzene. Lifetime exposure has the potential to cause cancer, and chromosomal aberrations, according to the EPA.