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Nanotechnology Used in Over 2,000 Food Items Goes Unlabeled Due to Weird FDA Loophole | Facts Matter

Facts Matter with Roman Balmakov17:54

Transcription

this right here is what's known as an

ingredients label it's legally required

to be printed on the packaging of food

items and if you happen to be one of

those people who stands in the aisles of

the supermarket looking for the names of

ingredients that you can't pronounce and

therefore you don't want to ingest into

your body well then you've most likely

come across the names of several

ingredients that perhaps unbeknownst to

you are actually made using

nanotechnology specifically they are

made through a process which converts

things like silver copper gold aluminum

silicon carbon as well as different

metal oxides into tiny tiny tiny

atom-sized particles that are quite

literally one billionth of a meter in

size if you want a visual for how small

that is up on screen is a graph from the

national Center for electron microscopy

and it shows you how a strand of DNA

which is about two nanometers in

diameter is about a thousand times

smaller than a bacteria organism and

about a million times smaller than a

raindrop so that is to say these

nanoparticles in our food are very very

small now some of the more common Nano

size ingredients that you might be able

to find in your cupboard right now if

you were to look include things like

titanium dioxide which is used to

increase the whiteness of things like

milk yogurt and sugar you might find

silicon oxide which is added as an

anti-caking agent you might find iron

and zinc dioxides which are added to

increase supposed nutritional value you

might find different silver derivatives

which are added for sterilizing

properties and you might find a host of

other ingredients like calcium carbonate

tricalcium phosphates and so on and so

forth the list is rather long however

before we move on in order to really set

the stage for you properly here let me

back up for a quick moment and actually

explain to you what this is all about

starting back in the 1990s so about 34

years ago nanotechnology became widely

used in the production of food products

that's because scientists discovered

that by adding these tiny little

components they were able to make our

food more colorful they were able to

make a brighter creamier crunchier and

they were even able to keep it fresher

for longer and besides just adding it to

the food itself we'll some manufacturers

have also added these nanoparticles to

the food packaging as just one example

up on screen you can see a milk carton

which utilizes nanotechnology to act

essentially as an indicator of the

freshness of the milk that's inside and

as you can see the color of the Box

actually changes to coincide with the

change of the food that's inside

furthermore different researchers also

found that adding these nano-sized

additives to some medicines made them

more effective however according to more

and more consumer protection groups as

well as different Health experts well

there appears to be a catch which is

that while these nanoparticles can

provide a myriad of benefits they might

come at a price and that price is our

health because you see these particles

are so small so tiny that studies like

this one here that you can see up on

screen for yourself show that they can

actually breach the blood brain barrier

and the ironic part is that the

researchers in that study they were

actually looking into this function of

nanoparticles in order to treat

neurological diseases because in order

to treat them they actually need

medication that can breach the

blood-brain barrier but when it comes to

food for instance when it comes to your

breakfast cereal that is not a feature

of the ingredients that anyone is

looking for furthermore besides

breaching the blood-brain barrier other

Studies have shown that these particles

are also able to circulate throughout

the body to get into and get absorbed by

the bloodstream and different organs

they have the potential to penetrate our

cell walls and then they might also at

least potentially create inflammation

and disease here is for instance what Dr

George pierogiotakis who is a a

researcher with the Harvard school for

public health here's what he said

regarding this matter quote they may

pass through the lining of the gut and

enter the bloodstream which may trigger

an inflammatory or immune response they

may also build up in various parts of

the body including the lungs the heart

and reproductive organs likewise Dr Rolf

Halden who is the director of the center

for environmental health engineering

over at Arizona State University he was

quoted in a recent article as saying

this quote we really don't know what the

impact of these particles is human

exposure is increasing and we lag the

tools to even measure what is arriving

in our bodies where it is deposited and

what it does there then he actually went

on to compare this unknown impact of

nanoparticles to asbestos quote as

pestos itself is relatively benign it's

an inorganic material what makes it

toxic and makes it kill 90 000 people a

year is that it has particles that

lodges in human tissue furthermore there

was a study published in July of 2020 by

researchers over at the University of

Massachusetts and Amherst and in the

study they were specifically researching

the effects of titanium dioxide which is

one of the most well-known additives

it's kindly added to things like gum

candy drinks milk desserts and so on and

what these researchers did was that they

gave titanium dioxide to two different

groups of mice and in order to isolate

the effects specifically to this

nanoparticle one group of mice was fed a

low-fat diet and the other group was fed

a high fat diet and what wound up

happening was that both groups

experience changes in their gut bacteria

including the inflammation of their

colons which can lead to abdominal pain

and even diarrhea and although both sets

of mice experiences inflammation the

obese mice that were fed the higher fat

diet they had more pronounced symptoms

now you might look at the study and you

might say hey Roman that's great but if

these nanoparticles have been used in

food production since the 1990s and they

are found in over quite literally two

thousand different food items then why

are you citing studies on mice what

about studies on humans one well that's

the million dollar question because

looking at the situation you would

assume that surely the US government

wouldn't haphazardly allow food

companies to introduce these new

ingredients into the products that we

buy on our store shelves without

undergoing rigorous testing and

authorization and if you think that well

you would only be half right because as

it turns out the FDA which is of course

the agency that's tasked with overseeing

these additives they are themselves

trying their best to keep up with this

new and evolving technology and they're

essentially playing a balancing game

between the potential benefits while

mitigating the risks that these

nanoparticles actually cause and as it

currently stands the FDA recognizes

nanoparticles within food with a

designation called grass which stands

for generally recognize the safe as long

as the manufacturer is already using the

same ingredient in its larger form well

they can use it in its nanoparticle form

meaning that if let's say a Serial

manufacturer is for instance using

titanium dioxide as an additive in their

cereal well then they can also use

titanium dioxide nanoparticles in their

cereal as well and the FDA will label

that material as being grass here's

specifically what a guidance document

from the FDA said in this matter and

just for your reference this document

was released all the way back in 2007

quote the fda's nanotechnology task

force concluded that the agency's

authorities are generally comprehensive

for products subject to pre-market

authorization requirements such as drugs

biological products devices and food and

color additives and that these

authorities give the FDA the ability to

obtain detailed scientific information

needed to review the safety and as

appropriate the effectiveness of the

products for products not subject to

pre-market authorization requirements

such as dietary supplements cosmetics

and food ingredients that are generally

recognized as safe otherwise known as

grass manufacturers are generally not

required to submit data to the FDA prior

to marketing and the agency's oversight

capacity is less comprehensive meaning

again that the fda's requirement for

reviewing and confirming the safety and

efficacy of nanotechnology ingredients

only applies to a certain subset of food

related products and so if something is

already recognized as being generally

safe then the nanoparticle derivative of

that same substance is also generally

assumed to be safe now this story

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then let's head on back to the studio

and so if something is already

recognized as being generally safe then

the nanoparticle derivative of that same

substance is also generally assumed to

be safe however the reason that this is

so troubling is quite frankly rather

obvious given the fact that the sole

purpose of using these nanotechnologies

is because it's known that certain

substances behave radically different at

the Nano level than they do at the much

larger levels and so for the FDA to

admit that ingredients that have

previously received the grass label are

exempt from screening is concerning to

say the least because if they're not

going to look into the safety and the

potential dangers of ingesting these

nanoparticles well then who will

and the answer appears to be the

manufacturers themselves because further

down in this document from the FDA

specifically on page 33 there's a

subsection titled quote products not

subject to pre-market authorization and

in that subsection it says this quote

however manufacturers are still

responsible for ensuring that the

products they Market are safe for

example cosmetic manufacturers are

required to ensure the safety of their

products but are not required to provide

safety data to the FDA in light of the

evolving state of the science the task

force believes an appropriate course of

action at this time would be for the

agency to work with manufacturers of

these products and assist them in

identifying data to substantiate the

safety of products containing nanoscale

materials including chronic toxicity and

other long-term toxicity data as

appropriate and so you see the FDA

appears to recognize the potential

dangers of these nanoparticles but then

they go on to suggest that it is still

the manufacturer's own responsibility to

ensure that their products are safe and

so what the fda's plan appears to be at

least according to their own guidance

documents is to establish some sort of

ad hoc relationships with the different

product manufacturers in order to pull

together the right data to demonstrate

product safety which appears to rely

heavily on the good nature of these

different companies to be responsible

which is actually evidenced further in

another document that the FDA released

back in 2018 called quote the fda's

approach to regulation of nanotechnology

products and in that document there is a

subsection which reads this quote where

statutory Authority does not provide for

pre-market review consultation is

encouraged to reduce the risk of

unintended harm to human or Animal

Health in these cases FDA relies on

publicly available or voluntarily

submitted information adverse event

reporting where applicable and on

post-market surveillance activities to

provide oversight where nanotechnology

applications are involved the FDA Inc

encourages manufacturers to consult with

the agency before taking their products

to Market such consultation can help the

FDA to advise companies review safety

information and design any necessary

post marketing safety oversight now

again I am generally the type of person

that gives the benefit of the doubt to

most people however it's hard not to

make the comparison that this appears to

be a case of having the fox guard the

hen house when the FDA basically is

relying on the good nature of profit

driven food companies to use this new

technology which fundamentally Alters

the state of food items with no

long-term health studies to support its

use furthermore one of the main reasons

that you likely don't know about these

nanoparticle ingredients is because of

the fact that the fda's guidance

explicitly states that companies do not

have to place nanotechnology ingredients

on the labels of their food products

here's specifically what it says in this

guidance document again that came from

the FDA in 2007 quote because the

current science does not support a

finding that classes of products with

nanoscale materials necessarily present

greater safety concerns than classes of

products without nanoscale materials the

FDA nanotechnology task force does not

believe there is a basis for saying that

as a general matter a product containing

nanoscale materials must be labeled as

such therefore the task force is now

recommending that the agency requires

such labeling at this time instead the

task force recommends that the agency

take the following action address on a

case-by-case basis whether labeling must

or may contain information on the use of

nanoscale materials

that is quite frankly rather cool the

recommendation is that since the science

doesn't suggest that these food products

with nanotech present a greater safety

risk well then they don't need a label

even though that same science has no

long-term studies on the impacts of such

nanotech and so we as the consumers are

quite frankly just left in the dark

which is by the way not even the first

time that such a thing has happened in

recent memory for instance it took the

USDA quite literally over six full years

in order to finally give in and force

food companies to label their products

if they are genetically modified and

that came quite literally after years of

public outcry however at this moment

well most people don't even know about

this nanotech food technology and so

there is no real public outcry at least

not here in America

regardless if you head on over right now

to the fda's website and then you go on

over to the specific subsection on

nanotechnology programs you will find

that after 2007 it took another 13 years

for the task force to release another

report which came out in the year 2020.

and in that report there is a chart

showing that the number of products

using nanotechnology submitted to the

FDA for approval has increased

dramatically over the past 10 and 20

years now of course not all of that is

food it also includes things like

Cosmetics medicines as well as vaccines

which we'll get to in a moment however

in regards to food while the exact

number is not exactly known experts in

this field estimate that somewhere

between 1900 and 2500 food products are

currently on the market using this

nanotechnology and this has created kind

of an interesting juxtaposition between

America and some other countries in the

world because despite the fact that

there is scant research on the long-term

effects of ingesting nanoparticles well

as we mentioned earlier the FDA does not

require any food items produced with

nanoparticles to be labeled as such and

instead the guidelines that they do have

recommend oversight on a case-by-case

basis however other nations are not as

open-minded you can say as the FDA in

fact many countries have taken steps to

either limit or outright ban either all

or some nanotechnology in their nation's

food for instance in the year 2010

Canada moved to ban the use of all

nanotechnology in their organic food

production then in 2011 the European

Union began requiring that all food to

be labeled if it contains engineered

Nano materials and then going even

further in 2015 the EU began to require

additional testing to ensure proper

health safety then in the year 2020

France which is of course a member of

the EU they went a step further and they

outright banned any foods containing

titanium dioxide in the summer of 2022

you all of the EU will actually join

France and no longer allow titanium

dioxide their reasoning stems from a

quote potential concern over

accumulation of titanium dioxide

particles in the body and possible

genotoxicity genotoxicity is the ability

for a substance to damage DNA which may

lead to cancer meaning that if you want

that sweet sweet titanium dioxide well

you'll have to come all the way here to

the U.S to get it and for your reference

titanium dioxide gives the food a nice

white color and so you can find it in

things like milk coffee creamer

toothpaste cakes pastries and so on now

again I'm not saying that it's actually

harmful or I'm not saying that it's

actually safe but at this moment it's

not 100 known either way however what is

known is that the FDA currently allows

these nanoparticles to be included in

our food items without requiring the

actual manufacturing companies

themselves to place them on the

ingredients label so take it out for

what you will but the big question

remains what are the long-term effects

of these nanoparticles and given the

fact that they have been shown to be

capable of crossing the blood brain

barrier shouldn't their effects be

mapped out over a long-term scale before

they're injected into people or even

even more pertinently into our food

because although at this moment these

scientific consensus states that these

nanoparticles are safe and that they're

nothing to worry about well I believe

it's worth reminding you that at one

time not so long ago lead was used in

gasoline asbestos was used as a building

material and twenty thousand doctors

said that Lucky Strike cigarettes were

better than the Alternatives now I'm not

directly comparing nanotech and food to

things like lead and asbestos but at the

very least I think that we as Americans

have a right to know what's in our food

as well as what's in the shots that are

mandatory for some of us to take if

you'd like to go deeper into any of the

research that we discussed in today's

episode I'll throw all those links down

into the description box below this

video for you to check out and also I'd

like to give a big shout out to Mr Eric

Schumacher who is one of the researchers

here for facts matter and he helped to

pull together and make sense of all

these different links and research and

then lastly if you got something out of

this video I hope you consider sharing

this video with your friends your family

and even your neighbors so that they can

know as well about these nanotech

particles that they are very likely

unwittingly eating the share button is

right there below this video and then

until next time I'm your host Roman from

The Epic Times stay informed and most

importantly Stay Free

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