The FDA may allow some toxic chemicals in food without a safety review. Experts are alarmed
Tom Perkins — The Guardian
Regulator looks to expand loophole to allow dangerous compounds in food as long as they’re not carcinogenic
(But no vaccinations allowed).
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is proposing to expand a controversial loophole that lets some of the world’s most toxic chemicals be added directly to food without a safety review.
(But no vaccinations allowed.)
The “threshold of regulation” (TOR) exemption currently allows dangerous compounds to be used without review in food contact materials, such as packaging or processing equipment, if they are not carcinogenic and are added at levels below 0.5 parts per billion (ppb).
But campaigners say many chemicals, especially hormone disruptors linked to brain damage and reproductive harm in children, are considered dangerous at levels far below 0.5ppb.
Even in its limited form, the loophole has already raised alarm. One TOR exemption that allows the rocket fuel chemical perchlorate to be used in grain bags dramatically increased the amount of the compound found in kids’ cereal, which advocates say could cause brain damage.
(But no vaccinations allowed)
The new proposed TOR expansion would allow companies to use the chemicals as an ingredient added directly to food, as flavorings, preservatives, emulsifiers, processing aids, enzymes, stabilizers and binders, and for myriad other uses, in ultra-processing.
The revelation comes after Robert F Kennedy Jr and the FDA claimed victory and declared “promises kept” in August for “closing” a different controversial regulatory loophole called “generally regarded as safe” (Gras), which over the decades was used to send ingredients to the market that campaigners said could sicken, injure or kill people.
(But no vaccinations allowed)
But Kennedy and the FDA did not mention in their public relations material that the proposed Gras rule submitted quietly to the Federal Register includes the TOR expansion, which public health advocates warn will also send alarming levels of toxic chemicals to grocery store shelves. Some advocates have accused Kennedy of deception.
(But no vaccinations allowed)
Whew! Thank goodness our kids will not be subject to disease-preventing vaccinations. We’d much rather they ingest “the world’s most toxic chemicals” that are “linked to brain damage and reproductive harm in children.”
Thank you, Republican Party, for protecting our children.
Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
What’s next for parents’ “freedom”? The freedom to starve their kids? How about the freedom to leave them out in the cold, naked? What about the freedom to beat them with sticks?
Ridiculous, you say? How are those different from the freedom to infect your kids with preventable diseases?
Here is another reason why “Florida Man” is national shorthand for “stupid.
From the 10/11/2026 Florida Sun Sentinel:
Activists and doctors clash over proposal to repeal 4 vaccines needed for kids to enroll in schools
By Ana Goñi-Lessan
News Service of Florida
TALLAHASSEE — The Florida Department of Health heard hours of public comment from parents’ rights advocates and healthcare professionals on Thursday about the agency’s move to repeal four vaccines required to enroll in state schools.
The hearing, held Thursday morning in Lake Mary, saw activists praise DOH for the
proposal, while doctors and other healthcare professionals heavily criticized the move,
which has been in the works for more than a year.
DOH wants to remove the immunization requirements for Hepatitis B, varicella (chicken pox), Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib) and pneumococcal conjugate to attend Florida schools. The requirements are an agency rule, not in state law, and can be repealed by the agency itself.
Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo said the decision would improve parents’ rights in Florida, which would then benefit the overall health of the state.
[No information was provided on how eliminating vaccinations would “benefit the overall health of the state]
“A public health system where parents are actively making decisions and choices about
their health, about the health of their children, rather than just going along with
something because they don’t feel like they have a choice, leads to a much stronger public health system,” Ladapo said.
Several Florida residents traveled to the meeting to voice their support for Ladapo and the vaccine repeal, thanking him for standing up for parents’ rights and even asking him for a selfie.
The day before, Ladapo’s wife, Brianna, asked anti-vaccine mandate supporters on social media to come to the meeting to “support medical freedom.”
“If you’ve ever said, ‘Thank God for Dr. Ladapo,’ please walk the talk and stand with us this week,” she wrote in a post on X. “Bring your family. Bring friends. Share this everywhere.
[One wonders whether the parents of the children who died from measles are also thanking God for the fools who go against medical science. WHO compiles global figures. Its latest estimate is 95,000 measles deaths in 2024]
Fill the room. There will be an opportunity to come together with Joe and his team to
thank them personally and take pictures.”
Supporters of the rule change also spoke against the COVID vaccine and the measles,
mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR), repeating unfounded claims, such as that doctors
make money from vaccines and that vaccines cause autism.
The vaccines for MMR, polio, diphtheria, rubeola and tetanus are required by state law to attend K-12 public schools, so repealing those requirements would take an act of the Legislature.
Healthcare professionals and parents of immunocompromised children, however, warned Ladapo and the DOH officials of the effects repealing the vaccine mandates would have on children in Florida.
Dr. Sarah Nosal, president of the board of directors of the American Academy of Family
Physicians, urged the department to reconsider. “Weakening school entry requirements sends a message that these vaccines are no longer important,” she said. “These four vaccines were not selected because the evidence changed. They are still vital to protect children’s health.”
Dr. Brandon Chatani, the vice president of the Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said he was not satisfied with the lack of “adequate scientific answers” from DOH.
“I urge you to consider the children who do not have a choice in their immune status,” he said. “Their safety depends on the decision you make here today.”
Last week, DOH dropped its attempt to expand exemptions for the immunization
requirements, and struck the words “sincerely held moral or ethical belief” from the
proposed rule change. The exemptions currently in place must be based on religious tenets and practices.
The move to repeal all vaccine mandates, announced over a year ago by Gov. Ron DeSantis and Ladapo, is supported by the governor, First Lady Casey DeSantis and former Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas, but no legislator filed a bill in any of the multiple legislative sessions in 2026 to remove all requirements.
Attempts to pass a “Medical Freedom” bill that would have expanded vaccine exemptions and mandated doctors to provide an alternate vaccine schedule did pass the state Senate, but failed to pass the state House.
DOH will continue to accept written comments and materials on the repeal of the four
vaccine requirements until 5 p.m. on Oct. 19. To submit, email vaccinerule@flhealth.gov
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