POPCORN LUNG

THIS WAS IN THE SAN ANGELO STANDARD TIMES TODAY...be careful what you do for the next decade!
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Habitual sniffing led to ‘popcorn lung’
MARCUS KABEL, The Associated Press
Thursday, September 6, 2007

Microwave popcorn fans worried about the potential for lung disease from butter flavoring fumes should know this: The sole reported case of the disease in a non-factory worker involves a man who popped the corn every day and inhaled from the bag.

“He really liked microwave popcorn. He made two or three bags every day for 10 years,” said William Allstetter, a spokesman for National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver where the man’s respiratory illness was diagnosed.

“He told us he liked the smell of popcorn, so he would open and inhale from freshly popped bags,” Allstetter said. The patient said he did this for a decade.

There are no warnings from federal regulators, nor is there medical advice on how consumers should treat news of the rare, life-threatening disease, bronchiolitis obliterans, also known as popcorn lung.

The popcorn flavoring contains the chemical diacetyl, which has been linked to lung damage in workers inhaling its fumes in food manufacturing plants. The chemical is a naturally occurring compound that gives butter its flavor and is also found in cheese and even wine, according to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.

It has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a flavor ingredient, but
hundreds of workers have sued flavoring makers in recent years for lung damage.

On Wednesday, the nation’s largest microwave popcorn maker, ConAgra, said it would stop using diacetyl within a year out of concern for its workers — not because of risks to consumers.