Kizer Asks FDA to Reduce Chloroform in Soft Drinks

In one of his last acts in public office, state Director of Health Services Kenneth W. Kizer has asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to reduce levels of the cancer-causing chemical chloroform permitted in soft drinks.

In a letter to FDA Commissioner David A. Kessler released Monday, Kizer said he is concerned by test results that show the presence of chloroform in some soft drinks at levels that he says create a risk of cancer that is “unacceptably high,” particularly for young children and adolescents.

The chloroform found in soft drinks is the result of chlorination--a chemical process that kills bacteria and eliminates the spread of disease through contaminated water.

Soft drink industry officials point out that many public water districts in the country deliver drinking water with even higher levels of chloroform than those found in the soft drink samples that have prompted concern in California.

A series of questions and answers on chloroform prepared by the Coca-Cola Co. states that “the chloroform levels found in soft drinks do not pose a risk to humans.”

In an interview, Kizer stressed that “this is not a panic situation.” But he said that the results of federal and state tests at a number of soft drink plants should cause some concern.

He noted in the letter that both the state and the U.S Environmental Protection Agency have categorized chloroform as a “probable human carcinogen.”

The chloroform levels found in some soft drinks sampled are high enough to add more than one case of cancer per million population--assuming that individuals drink one can every day over the course of their lifetime, according to Kizer’s letter.

The one-in-a-million risk is the level that public health officials generally regard as high enough to prompt action.

The estimate is based on studies of animals exposed to high levels of the chemical. Scientists generally believe such studies are applicable to humans.

“When informed of this, kids and parents may want to change the amount of their consumption,” Kizer said.

In his May 8 letter to Kessler, Kizer asked that the commissioner act promptly to reduce the amount of the chemical permitted in soft drinks “to prevent further unnecessary chloroform exposure.”

Current federal regulations allow up to 100 parts per billion of chloroform in drinking water. That standard is currently used for soft drinks.

But Kizer argued in his letter that soft drinks can and should be reduced to 6 parts per billion of chlorine. Some recent tests have found as much as nine times that level in soft drinks.

The FDA commissioner has not responded to Kizer’s letter.

Kizer is stepping down this month after more than six years in office to take a job in the private sector.