health
February 17, 2026
Harmful Until Proven Otherwise: GRAS Is Just the Start of What’s Wrong with America’s Safety Watchdogs
What if we stopped treating novel substances as safe until corporate science tells us otherwise?
TL;DR
- Seventy percent of Americans are overweight or obese due to low-nutrition, high-calorie ultraprocessed foods.
- Ultraprocessed food, which constitutes over half of the average American's daily calories, is linked to numerous chronic diseases.
- The GRAS system allows food additive producers to determine safety without thorough independent testing, leading to potentially thousands of unvetted additives.
- Since 2016, companies can introduce new additives without FDA approval after self-testing.
- The "safe until proven otherwise" attitude, seen in both food additives and chemical regulation (e.g., BPA), leads to long-term health risks and the introduction of equally harmful alternatives.
- The author proposes a "harmful until proven otherwise" approach to product and substance regulation.
Continue reading the original article