Fast food packaging - A health hazard

In his letter to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Senator Charles Schumer urges the FDA to launch an investigation into fast food packaging.  Senator Schumer cited the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) Pediatrics report and seven-year Centers for Disease Control (CDC) study that assessed the chemicals used in the production of fast food packaging and the adverse health effects on the human body.  He points out that the FDA has “done little-to-nothing to investigate these health concerns and protect the public from chemicals contained in the fast food products that wrap our sandwiches, hold our drinks or carton our fries.”

If the harmful effects that fast foods have on human health weren’t enough, now it’s the packaging that puts people’s health at risk.  To make matters worse, research clearly outlines the risks, but the FDA appears to be oblivious to the situation and hasn’t taken any action to rectify matters.  This is tantamount to adding insult to injury!

"How is this possible," you ask?  To me, the answer is simple: Like fast foods are allowed to exist, by extension, the packaging is as well.  It is all a matter of dollars and cents.  There is so much money involved in the production, packaging, and consumption of fast foods that too many conglomerates would lose money if laws were put in place to remove or disallow such harmful products.  Some might even say that the fast food conglomerates have the FDA in their back pockets!  It’s easy to have certain things “overlooked” when you throw money at people to sway their interest!

This is yet another example of how the fast food industry continues to control the government and our countries’ people.  Once again, blame must be place where it belongs: Blame it on fast foods!

-B.J.T. Pepin