Is Eating Microwave Popcorn Dangerous for Your Health?

Have you ever thought of the effects on your health after opening a bag of that wonderful smell of buttered popcorn ? Well, there have been outside studies over the years about a chemical called Diacetyl in the artificial butter. On May 16th, on Good Morning America, there was another review about this chemical.

Diacetyl is a chemical that is used in the artificial butter in microwave popcorn. Diacetyl has been tested on rats and the effects were the vapors of the cooked butter caused significant damages in the airway passages. Diacetyl is also found in other snack foods, cheese, and bakery producs to enhance the aroma and taste.

When officials at Orville Redenbacher were asked about this process, the company said that the target of the problem was the workplace exposure and they were confident it was safe. However, to date, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not done a study on Diacetyl.

In 2004, a jury in Joplin, Missouri awarded 20 million dollars to an employee in one of these plants for injuries incurred while working under these conditions. The man was on a waiting list for a lung transplant.

I did research on Diacetly and found many sources of litigations regarding the breathing of this chemical. However, it was mainly directed to popcorn factory workers. They also give it the name "popcorn workers lung".

Just recently on April 26th, there were seven new cases of "Popcorn Lung" in four California plants. Again, another government agency, CDC, claimed there is no risk to humans. Well, of course, they can say that because the FDA hasn't done any studies of Diacetyl. The primary argument has to do with improper ventilation in these plants. It's interesting when you read these articles about Diacetly. They keep saying there is no known risks to humans but they do document there has been risks to animals. Can't we connect the dots?

On the Good Morning America program, they recommended opening the bag of popcorn under a vent to release the fumes. However, in my mind, that doesn't give me any comfort knowing before I eat something I need to release potential toxic fumes. What's that saying about ingesting this type of popcorn? It sounds like we humans need to begin to get off our lazy butts and stand over the stove for a few minutes to prepare popcorn the old fashioned way. For those of you who are too young to know how to prepare popcorn this way, you just take some oil and place it in a deep pot. Then, put enough popcorn to cover the bottom. When you hear the first popcorn pop, you shake it till you hear no more kernels popping. Then salt, melt your butter ,and pour over the popcorn. Believe it or not, it tastes better and you can work off some of that butter rather than using your microwave.