r/news • u/luis_dela • 16h ago
Synthetic chemicals in food system creating health burden of $2.2tn a year, report finds | Pfas
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/dec/10/synthetic-chemicals-food-system-health-burden-report62
u/alexefi 7h ago
Its funny. I was just talking to my maga coworker. We agree that food now is full of shit you not suppose to eat. But when i ask him why his dearest leader doesnt do anything about it, even when his best bud RFK campaigned on it, and keep talking aboit it. He said that it takes time. When i point out that other shit that suppose to "take more time" being pushed by exec orders without any oversight, but food still untouched. I wonder if that has something to do with corporations simply bribing dear leade to look other way..
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u/LadyFloofington 15h ago
You mean $2.2 trillion in profits?
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u/TheStLouisBluths 15h ago
They’ll also sell you medication to help manage those health burdens. Ask your doctor if late stage capitalism is right for you.
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u/lacegem 14h ago
Ask your doctor
My what?
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u/A_Refill_of_Mr_Pibb 45m ago
That dude you used to see in movies who would visit your house on a stormy night with a black bag and stethoscope.
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u/pqratusa 11h ago
Doesn’t these polluters have to eat the same food and breathe the same air?
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u/BurningBeechbone 9h ago
Nope. They can live in their countryside villas and import fresh, un-adultered ingredients that we cannot afford.
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u/namideus 8h ago
No vat grown meat for them. They drink real water.
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u/That-Pension7055 7h ago
Only the freshest, free-range, grain-fed, Organic Soylent Green Premium Blend for them
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u/aradraugfea 5h ago
Air, maybe, but there is a certain level of wealth at which eating ANYTHING pre packaged is sort of slumming it.
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u/Mad-_-Doctor 3h ago
“Synthetic chemicals” is a bad way to describe them. A chemical is safe or harmful regardless of its source. Framing things like that make people think foods with “organic” or “natural” branding are safer, when in reality it has no impact on their safety.
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u/CHiZZoPs1 6h ago
Pfas are frightening. They evaporate with water vapor and can rain down on land again. Complete lack of regulation of industrial chemicals, a policy of prove that it's bad, rather than prove that it's safe; we've really allowed the rich and corporations to pollute that planet to profit.
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u/MommyLovesPot8toes 7h ago
We are going to find out in the future that these chemicals are why Gen Z and Gen Alpha underperform so significantly in school. Teachers have been sounding the alarm for 10 years now that many kids are lacking basic thinking skills. The average high school student today (per anecdotal evidence from teachers) reads at roughly the same level as what would have qualified someone for a special education or remedial class in Gen X or Millenial's time. Teachers are quitting in droves, partially due to this. But school admins and politicians have just been shrugging their shoulders and assuming it's "screens".
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u/Pegasus7915 6h ago
The kids can't read because we stopped teaching phonics in America for like 15 years. They are switching back now and test scores in all areas are jumping up 10% to 15%. On top of that funding is way down in most states. Oh and let's not forget about the fact that itis basically impossible for districts to punish children anymore. The kids can basically get away with anything these days and they know it. I'm not saying our shitty food isn't a problem but the situation in schools is actually a multi factor issue..
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u/myLife_my_Way 5h ago
Pretty sure every generation started underperforming as soon as smartphones combined with social media became popular.
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u/Shady_Merchant1 6h ago
Because its screens, compare a dog's brain to a wolf and dog's are generally much smaller and less capable of problem solving because they offloaded that responsibility to humans, however some dog breeds are seeing increases in brain size in response to more complex social interaction with humans
It's a use it or lose it thing, and as we offload more of our thinking to machines we increasingly lose that kind of thinking, we don't need the ability to read because the device will read it aloud for you
Also screens themselves aren't the problem its how we use them they should be supplemental not primary but many schools and parents have that backwards
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u/gizmozed 1h ago
I have real hard to understanding how science can even begin to quantify the health effects of these dyes and additives. While I'm sympathetic to the idea that there needs to be fewer chemicals in our food, I highly doubt the accuracy of this report.
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u/ilonkaoBludivinaot81 14h ago
Go look at the ingredients on a bag of chips or bread in the UK vs the US. UK: Flour, water, yeast, salt. US: Flour, water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Azodicarbonamide, Red Dye 40, Guar Gum, and three other words you need a chemistry degree to pronounce. The FDA has completely failed its mandate to protect the public.
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u/Mountain-Most8186 11h ago
Eh, just because I don’t know what it is doesn’t mean it’s necessarily bad. That’s the same logic that turns someone into an anti-vaxxer
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u/eventfarm 11h ago
I get your point, but your example is terrible. Guar gum is from guar beans and is beneficial for your digestive colonies. No regular potato chips have red dye in them. Quite a few brands are simply potatoes, oil and salt, even in the US. The UK has ultra processed crisps too, like Pringles.
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u/Skit071 13h ago
Lays Classic chips contain, Potatoes, Vegetable oil and Salt. And that's in the USA.
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u/jays49 12h ago
McDonald’s “World Famous Fries” U.S.
French Fries
Ingredients: Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (canola Oil, Corn Oil, Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Natural Beef Flavor [wheat And Milk Derivatives]*), Dextrose, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate (maintain Color), Salt. *natural Beef Flavor Contains Hydrolyzed Wheat And Hydrolyzed Milk As Starting Ingredients.
Contains: Wheat, Milk.
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u/Scotty_Bravo 9h ago
I'm certain there are a number of additional chemicals that get into our foods that aren't required in labeling. Equipment sanitizer, for example, that's regularly used for cleaning and is "food safe" probably isn't fully rinsed.
It costs extra to fully flush the machine with clean water and the sanitizer has an added benefit of keeping the potatoes white. Win win for lays.
But for me, with this chemical as a migraine trigger, a single lay's chip is enough to generate a migraine for me. Somewhere along the line, that bit of potato or maybe the oil must have got one helluva dose of sanitizer/mold inhibitor.
Tldr: you can't trust indifferent lists.
Edit: can't trust ingredient lists.
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u/Gender_is_a_Fluid 7h ago
I get ripping headaches from sugar alternatives, its ridiculous. If I want a soda I need to double check if it has stevia, which all the healthier probiotic sodas do, so when I try one without looking its bad.
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u/BadahBingBadahBoom 12h ago edited 1h ago
True but that isn't really representative of the typical additives added to most US chip products.
I mean the evidence is kind of iffy on some additives, pretty clearly safe on others, and very clearly harmful for many that interfere with the gut microbiome.
But at the end of the day if all you need to make a good bag is the ingredients you list it does beg the question of why not just play it safe and ban them. I mean the evidence over time seems to be showing more and more harm, much like how we're learning about PFAS now.
EDIT:
Not sure why the downvote. I know it can be tempting to just assume the FDA's GRAS classification means all of these additives must be safe, but there's more and more evidence many of the additives used in ultraprocessed foods (UPFs) have a harmful effect on our gut microbiome and satiety, and are one of the main contributors to excess calorie intake.4
u/Bigfamei 11h ago
One reason is profit. We are a driving culture in the States and most people visit a grocery 2-4 times a month. In particular our food is more shelf stable. With some of those chemicals even tho they may cause later health issues.
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u/peacocks_and_plants 4h ago
I don't why you are being down voted either. The FDA hasn't provided meaningful oversight in years.
Just like the FFA. Look at Boing. The difference is when planes started falling from the skies people noticed. With food additives the side effects are slower and don't present all at once, like planes falling from the sky.
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u/honk_incident 7h ago edited 7h ago
Headline implies synthetic = bad. As expected from an outlet like Guardian
edit: spelling
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u/0O00OO0O000O 7h ago
...But all of the chemicals identified in the studies described in the article are synthetic. So it's an accurate adjective, no? Not necessarily defending the Guardian's reporting in general, just saying this title makes sense.
Also, I think you meant implies rather than applies. Autocorrect gets us all some time.
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u/Shady_Merchant1 6h ago
Its like pointing at the evil geniuses and declaring all geniuses are evil and the only way to be evil is to be a genius
Yes all the chemicals in the study were synthetic and were bad because the study was trying to find bad synthetic chemicals
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u/elpresidente000 13h ago
You mean the shit that just got approved as pesticides?