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April 2003

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From:
"Gaugler, Kevin" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
TechNet E-Mail Forum.
Date:
Tue, 29 Apr 2003 14:12:56 -0400
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Here, here Rudy.  Let's just hope the politicians don't find out about the
dangers of Hydrogen Hydroxide!!  ;>


-----Original Message-----
From: Rudy Sedlak [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2003 2:05 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [TN] BVO, PVC, NTC, but relevant


Some many years ago, the infamous columnist, Molly Ivins wrote a column on
something she thought the FDA was doing was dumb/dangerous, and I responded
with a letter that could have some insights that might help some of us get a
better understanding of this.  I copy the important parts below....

Dear Ms. Ivins:

Read your recent column, I think it was Sunday in the San Jose Mercury News,
wherein you discussed the Delaney Clause.  From the sound of your
discussion,
it seems that you might not understand all the ramifications of the Delaney
Clause, and being one of your serious fans, I felt is my duty, honor, and
privilege to keep you from inadvertently tasting shoe leather.

You talked about the Delaney Clause preventing the presence of any amount of
a carcinogen in food or drugs.  This issue that most folks have with the
Delaney Clause has nothing to do with the amount of the carcinogen allowed,
but rather the definition of a carcinogen.  Seems that the Delaney Clause
(do
you capitalize the "C"?) calls something a carcinogen if it can cause any
cancer-like condition in any living organism.

Technology, like all of life, changes.  And since the Delaney Clause was put
in place there have been some tests invented that can show virtually any
substance that has ever been known, to cause cancer, including an awful lot
of substances that occur naturally in the very vegetables that everybody's
mother urges them to eat!

The test that has become the weather vane for the Delaney Clause is known as
the Ames test, invented by Bruce Ames.  Bruce Ames now says publicly that he
is sorry he invented the test, because the results are essentially
meaningless, especially when talking about ostensibly higher animal forms,
like you, I, and certain politicians.  Perhaps I was too generous, presuming
that politicians belongs to the same order of life that you and I do.  But I
digress.

You see, as life forms evolved, and as we have seen evolution has not been a
steady or sure thing (re: politicians), they have developed cancer fighting
mechanisms.  Thus stuff (a technical term for chemicals) that will kill
single celled organisms, if they are even in the same room, is utterly
harmless to human beans.

The problem that the Delaney Clause causes is that some very useful
chemicals, that will help materially increase the quality of human life, but
that cause cancer only in single celled critters, not in human beans, are
not
allowed to be used.  This is not real clear thinking.

Rudy Sedlak

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