79-08-B2

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The Delaney Amendment

Transcript After 32 years in the House of Representatives, Congressman James Delaney of New York retired last year. The former Congressmen in best known as the man responsible for the Delaney Amendment, which was passed by the Congress in 1958. This clause states that "No additive shall be deemed to be safe if it is found to induce cancer when ingested by man or animal..." That simple statement, added to the law 21 years ago, is today creating a lot of headaches for Congress and the food industry. In 1977, the Food and Drug administration proposed that saccharin, the artificial sweetener, be banned from the market because lab tests showed that large doses of the substance caused bladder cancer in male rats. The authority under which the FDA proposed its ban was the Delaney Amendment. But after a nationwide uproar from dieters and diabetics who depend on saccharin to control their intake of sweets, Congress responded to the FDA by passing a two-year moratorium on the proposed ban. The President signed the bill into law and most of the country forgot about saccharin. But the ban expired on May 22. Unless Congress acts again to postpone the removal of saccharin from the market, the FDA machinery to ban the sweetener will be set into motion. Every indication is that Congress will extend the moratorium for at least another three years. Meanwhile, the Delaney Amendment is creating problems for another important food additive -- nitrates. Nitrates are added to cured meats. They provide the meats with the color and taste to which we are accustomed. But more importantly, nitrates prevent the formation of botulism. In a recent series of lab tests, a professor from M.I.T. discovered that the ingestion of nitrates in rats caused an excessive incidence of tumors. Enter the Delaney Amendment. The FDA and the Department of Agriculture got together and informally proposed that nitrates be phased out over a three year period so that the industry could have time to develop an alternative to this important additive. But the Justice Department said "no". The Attorney General ruled that under the provisions of the Delaney Amendment, a phase-out is not a legal alternative. The substance must be banned outright. The Delaney Amendment's lack of flexibility in the case of nitrates and the controversy over saccharin have led many to believe that some serious changes in the law are necessary. A study commissioned by Congressman Clarence Brown of Ohio suggests that instead of the black-and-white absolutism of the Delaney Amendment, the following criteria should be established for a potentially cancer-causing additive to be allowed in food. The substance would not be banned if first, it is a unique food additive for which there is no safer alternative. Second, if the substance is essential as a dietary supplement necessary for medical reasons. And finally, if the removal · of the substance would create a much greater risk to the public than would its continued use. The precipitous reactions of the FDA to sketchy scientific evidence about saccharin and nitrates is evidence enough that the power which permits it to exercise this control over our ideas should be reviewed. No sensible person supports the continued use of genuinely unsafe products, but serious changes in the Delaney Amendment are necessary. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening.		Details Batch Number 79-08-B2 Production Date 05/29/1979 Book/Page Online PDF Audio Youtube? No
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