HUMAN TOXIC THREAT RISK ASSESSMENT - Essay Example

Food additives are used for purposes of food preservation and the improvement of their test. Manufacturers also use food additives for purposes of imparting color as well as improving the appearance of the food. A significant number of manufacturers cannot ignore using food additives because of the fact that they guarantee long shelf life. It is no wonder that almost every food products contain additives. I recent years, there has been an increase in the use of additives which eventually has led to an increase in the number of its negative effects among consumers.

Consequently, there has been a debate on whether food additives are more harmful than healthy. Tests carried out on animals that exhibit molecular structures similar to that of humans have shown that most additives in foods and drinks have the long term effect of causing diseases in the consumer. According to the website peopleforethicalliving.com, most people consume harmful substances in their foods without their knowledge of it or due to plain ignorance. The website gives examples of such to include aspartame and most types of fluorides.

On the contrary, the website answers.com has an argument that food and drink additives have many advantages which include improving its natural color and nutritional value, adding flavor to the food or drink, increasing its shelf life and, by keeping the food or drink in question fresh, reduces the risk of food poisoning (Monosson 42). Consumer Exposure The chemical threat from food and beverage additives is both acute and chronic in nature. While most additives could be harmless to most consumers, many lead to allergic reactions among them coughs and rashes on the skin.

The chronic diseases set off by food and drink additives include many types of diseases including Type 2 diabetes, obesity and weight gain in general. The chemical threat from food and drink additives is a target organ threat besides being a carcinogenic and developmental threat too. As a target organ threat, research using mice has shown that some chemicals used as additives cause brain tumors in consumers. These chemicals include excitotoxin food additives which enter the brain due to the porosity of the brain-blood barrier (BBB).

Since the brain is very sensitive to foreign chemicals, many diseases such as brain tumors, head trauma and Alzheimer’s disease are a most likely occurrence. The carcinogenic properties of most food and drink additives such as cyclamates and saccharin have been proven beyond reasonable doubt by researchers. These chemicals cause brain tumors in rats and since rats share many genetic characteristics with humans, the effect on human consumers should be more or less the same. The two artificial sweeteners are found in most manufactured foods and drinks and were mostly used in the United States during the two world wars (Miller and Spoolman 11).

These findings lead to the banning of cyclamates due to its adverse effects. As a developmental toxic threat, food and drink additives have been proven to cause hyperactivity in children. Personally, the chemical threat from the use of additives found in foods and drinks shall affect me only in the normal way since no family history increases my vulnerability to their effects. My preference for the energy drink Red Bull though could put me at a great risk of being affected by the preservatives used in this drink. Risk