Florida AG launches investigation into Potassium bromate

All right. Good morning, everybody. It's great to be here in Orlando for another great announcement from our Office of Attorney General. This morning, we're here to announce that we have initiated an investigation into potassium bromate. Many of you at home are probably wondering what is this? What is potassium bromate? Well, we're here to tell you. It is a chemical compound and it is an ingredient that is used in a lot of flours and baked goods that are sold across the United States. It has also been linked to many forms of cancer. It is a possible carcinogen. It has been banned around most of the world. And unfortunately, in the United States, it is likely still in the food that you at home eat, food that is sold at our schools, food that is being consumed by our children, and food that is likely very harmful to the human body. Here in Florida, we believe in business. We want to be a great state that's welcoming to business opportunity and jobs. But at the end of the day, we will never forget about public safety. We want public safety. We want food security. We want good health for our children. Here today, I'm honored to be joined by Representative Meg Weinberger, by Dr. Deborah German, who is the founding dean of the UCF College of Medicine and vice president for health affairs. We have Dr. Ben Rall, who is the owner of Achieve Wellness Clinic. Karen Kelly, who is a mom, a nurse practitioner and founder of Mercy Medical. And we have Rebecca Ricks, who is also a mom and a founder of Coalition of Mothers. We've got moms here because at the end of the day, in Florida, we prioritize our children, number one. We want to make sure that people are on notice if they're consuming something that's dangerous or harmful to the body. Number one, they need to be put on notice. But number two, we'd like to get this stuff out of our food. There's a reason why most of the world has prohibited use of potassium bromate in products and foods that are being sold. So potassium bromate, why is it used? It creates elasticity and flour. It makes it fluffy and white and lasts longer on shelves. I can tell you, my wife here is a big sourdough maker and actually baked some bread for you ladies today. It's still fluffy and tasty and rich, does not include potassium bromate. So it can be done. That said, that loaf of bread is probably not going to be as fresh in three, four days. And that is normal. When something is left on a shelf for weeks and weeks and it's still white and fluffy, it probably should send up a little warning flag that there's something in there that's not going to be healthy for the human body. Worldwide, potassium bromate has been banned for many decades around the world. It's been prohibited in the European Union since 1990, Canada since 94, China even since 2005, India, Brazil, Argentina, South Korea, Peru, the list goes on and on. The United States of America is one of the few remaining regions of the world still allowing this to be inserted in food products. Many companies in the U.S. though have been voluntarily moving to find alternatives. There are healthy alternatives to potassium bromate and that's a great thing. We hope more will continue. Potassium bromate has been classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as Group 2B, possibly carcinogenic to humans. There's been sufficient evidence of ties to kidney, thyroid, and abdominal cancer. It is a genotoxic, causing oxidative stress. It's been linked to DNA damage and other cellular harms. Again, it's not something that we want to risk when it comes to our kids. It's been proven that acute high dose exposure could possibly lead to kidney damage as well as hearing loss. So today, this is again, just the initial aspect of an investigation. Nobody is getting sued today yet. We want to learn more information. We will be issuing subpoenas to companies that do buy and sell products with potassium bromate in them. We will be starting with General Mills and their subsidiary, Pillsbury, and the list will likely go on from there. Our subpoenas will seek documentation on bromated products, including top Florida purchasers, disclosures provided to buyers, safety research and what executives at these companies have known, as well as, perhaps most importantly, sales to Florida schools. At the end of the day, we want to protect our families, number one. Public health and safety will always be the priority of our Office of Attorney General as we're seeking for transparency, notice, and holding businesses accountable that choose profit over safety. I'm excited to work with the legislature on ways to continue protecting our consumers. Representative Weinberger, I know, has pursued legislation in the past that would put restrictions on potassium bromate, among other potentially harmful ingredients, and I commend her for that. She will have my support, and I look forward to helping her champion this effort in the year ahead. So with that, I will turn it over to Representative Weinberger. Good afternoon, and thank you, Attorney General James Uthmeyer, for your leadership. We're definitely grateful for the way that you protect our families. But I would be remiss if I wasn't honest, and I don't want to brag, I did win a few awards for zucchini bread growing up, I just want you to know that, in 4-H, and I guarantee you there was no potassium bromate in it, and it definitely only lasted a few days. I would look forward to filing another bill and hopefully get it across the finish line. We should be protecting our kids and our families and everything that we're eating and feeding them. If you can't pronounce it, it's very likely we probably don't eat it in our ingredients. So I look forward to working together with your office and the legislator and getting some more common sense legislation across the finish line. So thanks for having me here today.