| The current furore over the health risks of screwcaps is not about screwcaps, it is about public health. Sadly those whose job it is to deal with issues of public health refuse to confront the simple truth - there is enough scientific evidence and specialist concern to question the role of PVdC liners in the current screwcap format, writes Keith Stewart in his column, today.
Whinging on about scaremongering and scientific evidence will not change the facts, which are very simple, and for those in the wine industry who have decided that screwcaps are their preferred wine seal.
Keith has the following explanation of why he is concerned.
'First, there is no irrefutable scientific evidence. None that makes certain links between endocrine disruptors and cancer, birth defects or reproductive damage in humans. Nor is there any evidence to the contrary. The much quoted approval of the USFDA for PVdC use in food package is actually a grandfather clause, that permits continued use of any substance used in food packaging prior to its tightening of US food packaging regulations in 1958.'
'However, there is overwhelming evidence the environmental contamination with endocrine disruptors are linked directly with cancer, birth defects and reproductive dysfunction in animals, fish and birds exposed in those environments. There is also increasing epidemiological evidence of endocrine disruptors being a factor in increasing rates of breast and prostate cancer in Western countries,' he adds.
This situation is compounded when the molecules causing concern are being delivered to the human body by an alcohol liquid, which ensures they are spread to every nook and cellular cranny in the human body.
When the Screwcap Initiative, fully supported by New Zealand Winegrowers, began its campaign to change the packaging on most New Zealand wine, it should have undertaken a public health risk analysis of the new closures it was so ardently promoting. But it didn't, which was not simply lazy, it was irresponsible.
Now 80% of New Zealand wine is under screwcap it is critical for this country's credibility that those in positions of authority take a pro-active approach to the issue, consider the evidence and make their position clear at the upcoming London Wine and Spirit Fair. Calling me names will not be enough.
Frankly the only option is to make sure PVdC is not part of the screwcap closure system. It may take another 10 years to provide unequivocal proof of the link between it, cancer and reproductive dysfunction. It may happen tomorrow. In either case are we ready for the court cases that consumers are certain to bring in the United States and elsewhere?
A responsible industry does not play in the scientific shadows with public health. In Britain the beef industry did just that, and their product was banned from Europe and North America for 5 years because of their obdurate stand in the information void surrounding mad cow disease. When the outbreak happened, the Ministry of Agriculture in the UK had no science that explained what mad cow disease was, or its outcomes, so it denied any public health risk in spite of not knowing for sure There are now more than 150 people in the UK have died from it.
When SC Johnson took over Saran from Dow, they changed the formula because they were concerned about endocrine disruption. It could be argued they had a larger vested interest in PVdC than the New Zealand wine industry, but they changed anyway.
The Screwcap Initiative has loudly proclaimed its ability The Screwcap Initiative has loudly proclaimed its ability to change established practise in the wine industry. Can it do that now and own up to this bungle so that the whole New Zealand wine industry can continue to use screwcaps with confidence? We shall see.'
Keith Stewart
Also read another report on the same subject, at http://www.truewines.co.nz
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