Consumer Organizations Sue to Compel FDA Action on Perchlorate

Several consumer organizations, including the Center for Food Safety,
Environmental Working Group and Natural Resources Defense Council,
have filed a petition for a writ of mandamus in the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Ninth Circuit seeking a writ compelling the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) to address the groups’ administrative petition
filed in December 2014. Breast Cancer Fund v. FDA, No. 16-70878 (9th
Cir., petition filed March 31, 2016). FDA missed a June 2015 deadline to
respond to the groups’ petition, which implored FDA to rescind foodcontact
approval for perchlorate, “an endocrine-disrupting chemical that
interferes with the thyroid gland” used in food packaging.

“Perchlorate is primarily used in rocket fuel. There is no reason FDA
should allow a chemical like this in or on food products,” Andrew
Kimbrell, executive director of Center for Food Safety, said in a March 31,
2016, press release. “It is irresponsible, illegal, and indefensible for FDA
to continue withholding a response to our petition when human health is
at stake.”

Issue 599