If you love popcorn as much as I do, you may want to pay attention to the latest news regarding the danger lurking in your popcorn. I know, I know. This is almost as sacred as apple pie. No one should mess with your popcorn. But alas, science is now revealing that popcorn may be exposing you to dangerous levels of toxic chemicals that can lead to cancer, and this time it isn’t the trans fats. What can you do about it? Well…

First of all, let’s put this into perspective. The alarming news from an article in the Washington Bureau by Jess Nesmith, tells us that university researchers and scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that a chemical that’s linked to cancer is present in the blood of nearly every American, including newborn infants (gulp). This chemical is called perfluorooctanoic acid which is associated with the manufacture and use of Teflon and other moisture-resistant products. It is commonly known as PFOA.

What does this have to do with popcorn? Well, you know that nifty little bag that your popcorn comes in that allows you to just pop it in the microwave — no fuss, no mess. Apparently this innocent looking little paper bag releases several hundred times as much of the PFOA as does cookware that has been coated with it. Well, hold on to your hat because not only is PFOA and similar substances used in cookware and popcorn bags, it is also used in other paper products used to package foods such as pizza. What is so particularly alarming with this news is that when these foods are heated, the chemical tends to migrate into the food.

The evidence of PFOA’s presence in 300 fetal cord blood samples taken by Johns Hopkins University, detected PFOA in 100 percent of those examined. This finding has researchers raising questions to the FDA in allowing these chemicals continued use in food product packaging. Of course, the FDA says that the levels are low and that they know of no evidence that the American public is being exposed to dangerous levels. The FDA persists with this stance even though the fact that of particular concern is the potential toxicity, especially developmental toxicity, for these chemicals and the lack of information about health risks at these exposure levels.

Also, an EPA panel of scientists sent a letter to the EPA Administrator, Stephen Johnson, last year that most of them were convinced that PFOA should be regarded as a likely human carcinogen and regulated accordingly. This conclusion referenced experiments in which PFOA had been associated with liver and pancreatic cancers in animals. And, yet the FDA persists with their position. I guess it will have to involve a human cancer epidemic before the FDA says there is substantial proof in humans. But one thing I know for certain is that I won’t be using anymore of that EazyPop Popcorn — [sigh] — another great food convenience to bite the dust. I wonder what’s next?