Johnathan Morales

Think about the last time you were eating something. You may have been watching a movie along with some potato chips or some popcorn. You may have just eaten dinner which consisted of KFC fried chicken. What you may have not known is that these products have to be approved by the FDA before you can buy them. The FDA, short for the Food and Drug Administration, controls what food and drug products are allowed to be sold in the US. They conduct tests to ensure that the products are functional and safe. They ensure that the products are up to standards. They allow ingredients, such as PHOs, in said products. Some, however, are arguing that the presence of the FDA regulations are unwanted, as there are alternatives to them. That, however, should not be allowed as more problems would arise. If companies were given jurisdiction to add their own alternatives to PHOs, they could choose to ignore the safety of their clients in order to make more money. They could use unsafe or poor alternatives which would lead to sickness. This has already been seen in the salmonella outbreak of 2009, where the CEO of the Peanut Corporation of America ignored safety hazards in order to just save money. With the FDA, these sorts of events could be avoided. The opposing side states that PHOs could lead to health problems due to their chemicals. While that is true, such ingredients are found in junk foods such as donuts and popcorn. So while the chemicals are dangerous, they are only fully a health problem if you eat mass amounts of said junk food. So if you choose to eat mass amounts of junk food, then you are liable for the consequences.