Soft drinks on sale in the UK have been found to contain benzene, a cancer-causing chemical. Benzene is produced when the drinks have the preservative sodium benzoate and vitamin added to them. The two can interact to form the carcinogen. The Food Standards Agency ordered the soft drinks industry to survey its products last year when tests in the United States found benzene in soft drinks sold there.

In tests of 230 products, levels of up to eight parts per billion were found in some drinks. The legal limit of benzene in drinking water is one part per billion. There are no legal limits on benzene in soft drinks. The brand names of drinks containing benzene have not been made available. Research published by Professor Glenn Lawrence of Long Island University in 1993 established how benzene can be produced when sodium benzoate and vitamin C react.

The FSA said there was no immediate public health concern but it wanted the industry to reduce the levels to a minimum. The British Soft Drinks Association told the BBC the levels were nothing to worry about. Benzene is present in the air as a result of car exhaust fumes. Campaign groups have called for sodium benzoate to be withdrawn as a preservative, pointing out that some affected products are marketed as health drinks.
(The Guardian, 02/03/06)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,1721478,00.html?gusrc=rss