Memo from: Dr. A.M. Zobel*

During the fall of 2005 Dr. Zobel’s activities in Poland were connected with the Warsaw School of Health, founded some 20 years ago by Dr. I. Celejowa and with IŻŻ, the Institute of Human Nutrition, the highest government authority on what may be sold in Polish stores, led by the director, Dr. A. Szponar.

Memo from: Dr. A.M. Zobel* During the fall of 2005 Dr. Zobel’s activities in Poland were connected with the Warsaw School of Health, founded some 20 years ago by Dr. I. Celejowa and with IŻŻ, the Institute of Human Nutrition, the highest government authority on what may be sold in Polish stores, led by the director, Dr. A. Szponar. One of the sessions on toxins in processed foods was dealing with acrylo-amides, given by Dr. H. Mojska as a seminar open to the public. Discussion was vigorous and took almost as long as the lecture itself, indicative of public concern. Dr. Mojska was persuaded by Drs. Celejowa and Zobel to publish a shorter version in the 2005 volume of the Annals of the Warsaw School of Health, pp. 154-157. Those powerful four pages are translated with only one comment of mine: “It was found that the cheaper the supermarket brand of tested processed foods the higher the concentration of acrylamides, powerful carcinogens and neurotoxins.” Dr. Zobel has already had two “readings” in the Canadian Parliament to have acrylamides labelled as part of the nutritional information on Canadian foods, and Canada could be the first country in the world concerned about this aspect of the country’s health. Canada was the second country to require labelling of trans fats, and it took several years of lobbying by Dr. Zobel with the help of her local Member of Parliament Dr. Peter Adams to make it happen. In 2002 acrylamides were unex-pectedly discovered in foods processed at high temperatures, and are more dangerous by far than trans fats – people working with them in the laboratory have to wear masks and gloves, and handle them with adequate ventilation. We want to have the concentrations of acrylamides produced during the preparation of convenience foods at the lowest possible concentrations. _____________________________ *E-mail address: zobelala@yahoo.ca