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Remember when Dr. Oz and Consumer Reports did those big exposes on the dangerous levels of arsenic in several brands of apple juice -- the same juice many of us feed our kids? Well, someone is finally doing something about it! Congressman Frank Pallone of New Jersey and Connecticut Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro have introduced a bill that would require the FDA to set standards for lead and arsenic in apple juice.
The bill would give the FDA two years to come up with those standards. That seems pretty generous to me. You'd think they could just look at the standards for freakin' drinking water and use the same standards. That would take them 5 minutes, maybe less. Hell, why don't they ask US to set those standards??? But they're not, so let's look at how long it's going to take before we can trust the apple juice on store shelves.
Okay, so before the FDA even gets started, this bill actually has to pass. And that may in itself take a while. This is Congress we're talking about. In the minds of most parents the bill is kind of a no-brainer that, again, should take all of 5 minutes to agree on. But we'll see.
So supposing COMMON SENSE prevails and they pass the bill, and then the FDA takes the full 2 years to set standards, then they will probably require more time to implement those standards. And probably, along the way, there will be industry pressure to make the standards as weak as possible, because by then fewer of us will be paying attention. So we have that to look forward to.
Long story short, by the time our kids are in college the apple juice on shelves will be maybe, sort of, safer. In other words, apple juice is not going to get safer fast enough. Am I too pessimistic and cynical? Maybe. Prove me wrong, Congress and FDA, PLEASE. But I'm sticking with organic and/or "made from American apples" for now. As usual, it's all on us, parents.
How long do you think before new standards for apple juice take effect and make all apple juice safer?
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