GRAS - GENERALLY RECOGNIZED AS SAFE

Who the hell determined that these were "safe"?

TWINKIES

I was delighted to learn that Secretary Kennedy would be doing a deep dive into food additives that have been allowed to be incorporated into our food supply, in the U.S., without any concrete scientific basis to make such broad assumptions.

GRAS was established back in 1958 under the Food Additives Amendment. Although the FDA is tasked with overseeing GRAS, companies can self-determine safety without formal approval. To make matters even worse, if that’s possible, companies are not even required to notify the FDA when declaring an ingredient is GRAS. (I used Chat GPT to confirm that, as it certainly doesn’t even sound possible to me, but apparently it is.)

Let’s peer through that lens and take a look at GRAS.

“Today, as part of this commitment, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is directing the acting FDA commissioner to take steps to explore potential rulemaking to revise its Substances Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) Final Rule and related guidance to eliminate the self-affirmed GRAS pathway. This will enhance the FDA’s oversight of ingredients considered to be GRAS and bring transparency to American consumers.

“For far too long, ingredient manufacturers and sponsors have exploited a loophole that has allowed new ingredients and chemicals, often with unknown safety data, to be introduced into the U.S. food supply without notification to the FDA or the public,” said Secretary Kennedy. “Eliminating this loophole will provide transparency to consumers, help get our nation’s food supply back on track by ensuring that ingredients being introduced into foods are safe, and ultimately Make America Healthy Again.”

Currently, the FDA strongly encourages manufacturers to submit GRAS notices through the agency’s GRAS Notification Program, but industry can self-affirm that the use of a substance is GRAS without notifying the FDA. The FDA has completed and published more than 1,000 GRAS notices and evaluates an average of 75 notices per year. The agency maintains a public inventory where all GRAS notices that have been filed by the agency, along with the supporting data, and FDA’s final agency response letters are available for review and download by the public.

Eliminating the self-affirmation process would require companies seeking to introduce new ingredients in foods to publicly notify the FDA of their intended use of such ingredients, along with underlying safety data, before they are introduced in the food supply.”

A 2022 analysis conducted by the activist organization Environmental Working Group (EWG) found that “nearly 99 percent of all food chemicals introduced since 2000 were greenlighted for use by the food and chemical industry” through the GRAS rule, without requiring FDA approval.

Out of the 766 new chemicals added to the food supply since 2000, only 10 involved companies petitioning the FDA to approve the ingredient.

Don’t you just love the “currently, the FDA strongly encourages manufacturers to submit GRAS notices through the agency’s GRAS Notification Program”. Is that a joke? Could they possibly be serious in wanting to protect the health of our children and the public at large by strongly encouraging voluntary notification? Am I missing something here?

As of 2021, approximately 955 substances have been accepted under this designation. (Wikipedia) Some of you may be aware that many cereal companies who ship their cereal around the world, like General Mills and Kellogg’s for example, have to create different recipes for those boxes destined for the EU. This has never been a secret although the public remains generally unaware. Thank you MSM for being our eyes and ears!

So as of 4 years ago, we have been eating foods that contain many hundreds of possibly toxic or harmful ingredients. Is it any wonder that we’re the sickest industrialized nation in the world? If you’re wondering who is responsible for this travesty, here is the list of the Commissioners of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) since 1958

1. George P. Larrick (August 12, 1954 – December 27, 1965)(Wikipedia)
2. James L. Goddard (January 17, 1966 – July 1, 1968)(Wikipedia)
3. Herbert L. Ley Jr. (July 1, 1968 – December 12, 1969)(Wikipedia)
4. Charles C. Edwards (December 13, 1969 – March 15, 1973)(Wikipedia)
5. Alexander M. Schmidt (July 20, 1973 – November 30, 1976)(Wikipedia)
6. Donald Kennedy (April 4, 1977 – June 30, 1979)(Wikipedia)
7. Jere E. Goyan (October 21, 1979 – January 20, 1981)(Wikipedia)
8. Arthur H. Hayes Jr. (April 13, 1981 – September 11, 1983)(Wikipedia)
9. Frank E. Young (July 15, 1984 – December 17, 1989)(Wikipedia)
10. David A. Kessler (November 8, 1990 – February 28, 1997)(Wikipedia)
11. Jane E. Henney (January 17, 1999 – January 19, 2001)(Wikipedia)
12. Mark McClellan (November 14, 2002 – March 26, 2004)(Wikipedia)
13. Lester Crawford (July 18, 2005 – September 23, 2005)(Wikipedia)
14. Andrew von Eschenbach (December 13, 2006 – January 20, 2009)(Wikipedia)
15. Margaret Hamburg (May 22, 2009 – April 1, 2015)(Wikipedia)
16. Robert Califf (February 22, 2016 – January 20, 2017)(Wikipedia)
17. Scott Gottlieb (May 11, 2017 – April 5, 2019)()
18. Stephen Hahn (December 17, 2019 – January 20, 2021)(Wikipedia)
19. Janet Woodcock (January 20, 2021 – February 17, 2022)(Wikipedia)
20. Robert Califf (February 17, 2022 – present)()

Holding FDA Commissioners Accountable: A Call to Action

The responsibility for ensuring the safety of the American food supply rests heavily on the shoulders of the FDA commissioners. From Jane E. Henney to Robert Califf, each commissioner has played a vital role in shaping the policies and regulations that govern what we consume. However, it seems that their efforts have failed to protect the public's health. This oversight has led to the widespread inclusion of potentially harmful substances in our food.

It is evident that each commissioner bears moral and ethical responsibility for any dereliction of duty. Their primary obligation has always been to safeguard the health of the American people, yet the presence of myriad GRAS substances in our food raises serious concerns about the fulfillment of this duty.

It seems to me the buck stops there. In my opinion, each of these commissioners are morally and ethically responsible for this dereliction of their duties - which has been to protect the health of the American people. The only remaining question is, what are we going to do about it?

Fortunately, Secretary Kennedy is spearheading initiatives to address these issues head-on. Instead of imposing an immediate ban on 955 GRAS substances, he is meticulously exploring legal avenues to close the loopholes that have permitted such abuses. His approach also involves a comprehensive review of the safety data for each ingredient. This methodical scrutiny is likely to result in the elimination of hundreds of potentially harmful ingredients from our food supply. My guess is that he’ll start with the low hanging fruit - the ingredients which the EU and other countries have already banned. I believe that amounts to hundreds of ingredients/additives, right off the bat.

The pertinent question now is, what are WE going to do about it? I mean, We the People? Those of us who, unbeknownst to us, have eaten toxic substances throughout our lifetime. That includes those of us who have actually paid attention to what we’ve been eating without realizing that our health has been sabotaged by the FDA. I don’t believe our obligation should end with Secretary Kennedy's efforts. The public, especially those who have been unknowingly consuming these toxic substances, must also take a stand. It is crucial for us to demand that current and former FDA commissioners be held accountable for their actions.

One effective way to mobilize support is by creating an online petition or list of people who insist on accountability. Let’s begin with a great name #GRASmyass - to help galvanize public attention and support. By sharing this initiative with friends, family, co-workers and neighbors, we can create a powerful grassroots movement.

As a psychologist, I recognize the importance of approaching this task with a measured perspective, yet the urgency of the situation compels me to advocate passionately for change. Together, we can make a difference and demonstrate to Secretary Kennedy the extent of public support for his essential reforms.

Imagine how Secretary Kennedy would feel about this kind of public support. I guess you could say it’s a thank you of sorts for all he’s endured in order to help all of us. Think of every effort that was made to demoralize and delegitimize him. Remember every story that was made to create the illusion that he “was crazy”, he was a “kook”, he was “dangerous”, and he was a “liar” who couldn’t be trusted. Be it MSM, late night talk show hosts, democratic congressmen, respected authorities and yes, even his own extended family, all helped to create a propaganda storm to defeat this courageous warrior who has been fighting corruption his entire professional career. He was hailed “Hero of the Planet” by Time magazine for successfully ligating against polluters, not just major chemical companies but also our federal agencies, who were tasked with insuring against environmental harms. Apparently the public has a very short memory and can still be massively influenced by psychological manipulation. If only we’d learned our lessons from Covid. Perhaps enough of us actually did, which is how Trump ultimately got elected.

Let us unite in this effort and make our voices heard. By taking this step, we can contribute significantly to ensuring that our food supply is safe and that those responsible for its oversight are held accountable. Imagine the impact of a collective outcry demanding integrity and transparency in the FDA's operations. With determination and solidarity, WE THE PEOPLE can make this vision a reality. So show me what you’ve got. Shall we use #GRASmyass or is there a wildly creative person out there who has another suggestion, I’m all ears.