New York advances Food Chemical Transparency Bill despite industry opposition

With only days left in the legislative session, the New York Senate voted to advance the New York Food Safety and Chemical Disclosure Act (A1556E/S1239E), which requires companies to publicly disclose why they think their food chemicals are safe when they sneak new chemicals into the food supply without informing FDA. The bill would also ban three unsafe additives tied to cancer, hormone disruption, and reproductive toxicity.

This state action recognizes a simple truth: the FDA cannot keep us safe if it doesn’t know what new chemicals are being added to our food.  

The Act must still pass in the Assembly, where powerful food corporations are fighting the bill to keep their secret safety determinations away from the public and FDA.  The question now is whether the Assembly will stand up for transparency or let the food industry continue to keep their secrets from us.