Factory Workers of Food Flavoring are at Risk of Bronchiolitis Obliterans

01/05/07 Workers at factories that make food flavorings are at risk of a rare and life-threatening lung disease called bronchiolitis obliterans, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.

But the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is not yet paying proper attention to the issue, an expert focusing on the cases said.

The hard-to-treat condition causes vague symptoms such as cough and shortness of breath, but steadily worsens, the CDC said in its weekly report on death and disease.

It "is known to be caused by exposure to noxious gases in occupational settings and has been described in workers in the microwave-popcorn industry who were exposed to artificial butter-flavoring chemicals, including diacetyl," the report read.

The CDC described the cases of two California workers, a 29-year-old man and a 40-year-old woman, who became progressively sicker. The woman eventually had to quit her job because of illness. Neither smoked.

Both were eventually diagnosed with bronchiolitis obliterans. Diacetyl, which produces a butter flavor, was the main suspect although the CDC team said other flavorings may have played a role.

"Neither worker was employed in the microwave-popcorn industry; both were workers in the flavor manufacturing industry, which produces artificial butter flavoring and other flavors such as cherry, almond, praline, jalapeno and orange," the report reads.

Since then, five other workers in the same industry have been found to have the lung disease.

OSHA said this week it was starting a program to deal with the problem in popcorn workers.

David Michaels of the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, who has closely tracked the issue, said the CDC had already helped popcorn factories deal with the problem.

"So two days ago OSHA issued a press announcement that they are making a national emphasis program on popcorn factories, which I think is quite cynical because the popcorn factories are one of the few places that probably have successfully addressed the problem," Michaels said in a telephone interview.

Safe occupational exposure levels for diacetyl and many other flavoring chemicals have not been established, the CDC noted.

"Because the manufacture of flavorings involves more than 2,000 chemicals, workers in the general flavor-manufacturing industry are exposed to more chemicals than workers in the microwave popcorn industry, which primarily uses butter flavorings," the report adds.