Actress Zooey Deschanel has released a new web series on Facebook with Attn called “The Farm Project,” expressing her scholarly views about the dangers of chemicals in food, and it’s a smorgasbord of detritus masquerading as scientific knowledge.
Where to start with Deschanel’s false claims that have garnered her over seven million views on Facebook with her chemicals video?
Let’s begin with her leftist fear-inducing addled quote: “Processed foods in America contains chemicals that are banned in Europe. You might assume that the government oversees everything we can buy in the grocery store and makes sure they’re safe. But you’d be wrong. The only thing stopping big corporations from putting sketchy chemicals in our food is the honor system.”
Bethany Mandel, writing for Acculturated, writes that she spoke to food scientist Linda Minkow who pointed out, “GRAS stands for generally recognized as safe. Companies convene a panel of recognized experts in chemistry and toxicology, who evaluate the published literature on the proposed food additive. Even if a GRAS assessment isn’t submitted to the FDA (also known as a self-assessment), the FDA can show up at the company’s door and demand to see it at any time.”
Deschanel claims: “Sodium nitrite … as I like to call it ‘science salt.’ It’s found in hamburgers and hot dogs and according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, it’s probably cancer-causing to humans.”
Mandel quips, “Here is an unfortunate newsflash for Deschanel and her fans: Everything is probably cancer-causing to humans. Minkow told me, ‘And you know what IARC classifies as a known carcinogen, not just a probable one? Alcohol.’”
Mandel notes logically that Deschanel conflates the fact that chemicals are used in food as well as other things in order to condemn the chemicals. Mandel quotes Minkow: “Just because a chemical is used in something OTHER than food, doesn’t mean it’s not safe for human consumption. Pickle brine and beet juice are used to pretreat roads before snowstorms. Vinegar is used in many homemade cleaning solutions and weed killers.”
Mandel concludes:
What, exactly, is the goal of Deschanel’s fear-mongering? At the video’s close, Deschanel implores viewers to “Share this video if you think we have a right to know what corporations are putting in our food.” It’s not a push to force the FDA or food companies to adopt standards; those already exist. It’s instead yet another avenue to attack “big corporations”— a vague but easy target for pampered Hollywood celebrities, perhaps, but not a rational way to do anything useful to improve what Americans eat.