Last month I wrote about the environmental and health hazards associated with polystyrene food containers like coffee cups and clamshell boxes for takeout food. Dozens of U.S. cities have banned these containers because, in addition to creating a huge waste disposal problem, they allow styrene to migrate from the container into food.

Unfortunately, the story has an alarming sequel: styrene has also been an FDA-approved food additive since 1967. It’s used to flavor and thicken avariety of commercial products including ice cream, ices, candy, chewing gum and baked goods, despite the fact that in 2011, the National Toxicology Program (NTP) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services designated styrene “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen.”

Many health organizations argue that the FDA has essentially abandoned its responsibility to verify the safety of chemical food additives. In 2013, The Pew Charitable Trusts published the results of a three-year comprehensive study of how the FDA regulates these substances, which engaged industry representatives as well as watchdog groups and the FDA. They found that there are more than 10,000 chemical food additives in use, and that more than 1,000 of these substances have been defined as “Generally Regarded as Safe (GRAS),” an official designation, by their manufacturers, without even notifying the FDA. The agency lacks the authority to demand data needed to make an informed evaluation and the resources necessary for independent assessment.

This past June, a consortium of seven environmental and health organizations submitted a 38-page petition to the director of the Office of Food Additive Safety at the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, asking that eight toxic flavoring agents, including styrene, be removed from the FDA’s list of approved food additives. The reason: all had been found to induce cancer in humans and animals by the National Toxicology Program (NTP). The petition invokes federal law dating back to 1958, known as the Delaney Clause, which states that “no additive shall be deemed to be safe if it is found to induce cancer when ingested by man or animal, or if it is found, after tests which are appropriate for the evaluation of the safety of food additives, to induce cancer in man or animal.”

Styrene is also prevalent in perfumes, cosmetics, personal care products, detergents and household cleaners, where its sweet smell is used to mask unpleasant chemical odors. Because of what’s called “the fragrance loophole,” it doesn’t have to be listed on ingredients labels so, as with food products, the only way to avoid exposure is to shun whole categories of product, like anything containing unspecified “fragrance” and a whole range of prepared foods. Predictably, past efforts to improve regulation have met with strong opposition from politicians allied with the petrochemical industry. As I write this I am struggling to convey the facts calmly, but I find the whole thing outrageous. If a foreign power were discovered sneaking this stuff into our food and shampoo and deodorant, we’d probably consider it an act of terrorism.

The Pew Study: www.pewtrusts.org/en/archived-projects/food-additives-project

The petition can be found at docs.nrdc.org/health/files/hea_15060901a.pdf