Methylene chloride; a review of its safety in coffee decaffeination
Methylene chloride has been widely used as a decaffeination processing aid worldwide for many years. Over the last two decades, various members of the family of chlorinated hydrocarbons (to which methylene chloride belongs) have been subjected to intense toxicological and regulatory scrutiny. Some members of this family have indeed been found to be carcinogenic, particularly in rodent studies using maximun tolerated doses. Suspicion about the safety of methylene chloride arose in the early 1980's when the preliminary results of U.S. National Toxicology Program (NTP) oral gavage studies in rats and mice showed methylene chloride to be carcinogenic. Shortly afterwards these studies were determined by the NTP to be invalid due to serious quality assurance discrepancies. The NTP soon after reported that lifetime inhalation studies of rats and mice showed evidence of benign and malignant tumors, respectively. Studies sponsored by the National Coffee Association of U.S.A. investigated the effects of methylene chloride when given to rats mice throughout their lifetime in their drinking water. This method of administration more closely resembles human exposure in drinking decaffeinated coffee. The results showed that doses up to the lifetime human equivalent of over 6 million cups of decaffeinated coffee per day did not induce a carcinogenic response in the exposed animals. In addition, epidemiologic studies of workers occupationally exposed to methylene chloride for up to 30 years through inhalation have failed to demonstrate increased cancer incidence or excess mortality. Furthermore, elegant metabolic and pharmacokinetic studies have recently been completed, lending strong support for the absence of human risk from methylene chloride at current levels of exposure. This review will summarize the scientific evidence for the conclusion that the use of methylene chloride in coffee decaffeination is safe
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| Format: | biblioteca |
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París (Francia)
1988
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| Subjects: | CAFE DESCAFEINIZADO, CLORURO DE METILO, RESIDUOS, EFECTOS SECUNDARIOS, NEOPLASMAS, CARCINOGENOS, |
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