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James Huff, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences*
(Speaker was not able to attend.)
Nothing since the Food and Drugs Act of 1906, and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938, has had a greater impact on the safety of foods and food products from a carcinogenesis point of view than the Delaney Amendment in 1958. Simply stated this law, named after Congressman James Delaney of New York, forbid the addition to foods of any agent or chemical that was known or shown to cause cancer in humans or animals. That is, “the Secretary [of the Food and Drug Administration] shall not approve for use in food any chemical additive found to induce cancer in man, or, after tests, found to induce cancer in animals.” Not any. Zero. What could be more decent and proper and fair? Industry did not think so, and over the decades since this Law was enacted in 1958, during the Eisenhower administration, fought and cajoled and financed efforts to have Delaney repealed or gutted, and finally corporate America was successful and a Republican Congress overturned the Amendment, when the president signed the "Food Quality Protection Act of 1996." Demise of the Delaney clause was another victory for industry. In this presentation methods used for identifying carcinogens and categories of evidence for human carcinogens will be mentioned, with emphasis given to describing long-term chemical carcinogenesis protocols and their predictive value for protecting public health. Chemical carcinogens in foods will be used as examples.
*Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709 USA
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