Is the" GRAS" greener on the other side?

GRAS -“Generally Regarded as SAFE”. The compromise between our government and our food. In 1960, during the term of President Eisenhower, a committee was formed to study the safety of our food. This committee reported back to the President that chemicals, additives that caused cancer in animals could cause cancer in people too. This prompted a new law, the food industry would have to prove an additive was safe before its use was allowed. Under the Delany clause, requested by Representative Delany from New York, any substance that caused cancer would not be allowed in any amount. Testing for each substance would require hundreds of thousands of dollars and a 5 year study on each. At the time there were already 768 additives on the market and testing all these did not seem possible. The government, in its infinite wisdom, decided to make these already in circulation additives part of the first additives on the GRAS list without testing for safety. These first additives include preservatives, sweeteners, stabilizers, and artificial flavors. All new substances would have to pass tests to prove they were safe and free from cancer causing effects. Now remember, President Eisenhower’s committee reported that what causes cancer in animals could cause cancer in humans. When you dine out and reach for that pink packet to sweeten your tea, you know what it says, “causes cancer in lab mice”. But according to the Delany clause, any substance that causes cancer in any amount will not be allowed in our food. Why is the “pretty in pink” still on the table? It is one of the first 768 substances on the GRAS that the government choose to not have tested for safety because of time and money. It has been around since 1879. But all new substances entering the food supply since 1958 are safe, right? The Food industry found a loop hole. New substances were made from a combination of the original 768 substances on the GRAS list that were not tested, therefore these new substances did not have to be tested. One of these new additives was the ever popular, made from real sugar, the artificial sweetener in the little yellow packet on the table. True to its word this “harmless” sweetener is made from real sugar but added to that real sugar is chlorine through a process of hydrogenation. Hydrogenation, where have we seen that? On warning labels that tell us hydrogenated oils can cause heart disease and elevated cholesterol. In 1972 the United Sates banned the use of DDT . (http://www.epa.gov) "An end to the continued domestic usage of the pesticide was decreed on June 14, 1972, when William D. Ruckelshaus, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, issued an order finally cancelling nearly all remaining Federal registrations of DDT products...Ruckelshaus said he was convinced that the continued massive use of DDT posed unacceptable risks to the environment and potential harm to human" health. What does DDT have to do with my morning coffee, you may ask. Did ya’ know ..that harmless yellow packet you tear open or dip out of the “sugar” bowl is almost DDT. Scientists have found that this sweetener is one atom (what scientist once believed to be the smallest thing on Earth) from being DDT. Even decades after the banning DDT remains in our soil and DDT stores itself in animal and human tissue. So is this sweet little substance innocent after all? Some scientist believe that artificial sweetners have the same ability to take up residence in our tissues and organs. What’s a girl (or guy)to do? My philosophy is ...if God didn't make it ...“if you can’t grow it in your (or someone else’s) backyard” or “if it has to be produced in a laboratory” then it does not belong in your mouth or on your body. Read labels, every time you buy an item because ingredients do change, if you can’t pronounce it don’t buy it. Or better yet do your research