Benzene Lawsuit Settled By Consumers
WASHINGTON | Consumers in Kansas City and elsewhere have settled a lawsuit alleging that two soft drink makers sold products that contained excessive amounts of cancer-causing benzene.
The companies, In Zone Brands Inc. of Austell, Ga., and TalkingRain Beverage Co. Inc of Preston, Wash., have already reformulated certain products to eliminate the alleged presence of benzene, according to the settlement.
The lawsuit was filed in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Besides consumers in Kansas and Washington D.C., consumers — all parents — also filed lawsuits in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Florida.
“It’s progress,” said Neil Sader, a Kansas City attorney who represented a local plaintiff. “There’s no reason for these problems not to be addressed.”
His client, MeLisa Gonzalez, a Blue Valley School District teacher, said last spring that she sued the companies to make sure her children were drinking safe products.
Attorneys for In Zone and TalkingRain could not be reached for comment.
The American Beverage Association, the industry trade group, has insisted that soft drinks are safe.
The beverages in the settlement are TalkingRain’s pink grapefruit-flavored “sparkling spring water with juice” and In Zone’s “Bellywashers” containing “2/3 less sugar.” “Bellywashers” come in cartoon character-shaped containers.
Manufacturers don’t add benzene to their soft drinks. It can form when vitamin C and either sodium benzoate or potassium benzoate — common ingredients in many soft drinks — combine and the products are exposed to heat and light.
The Food and Drug Administration tested more than 100 soft drinks for benzene over the winter and spring after private tests showed that some contained higher than allowable amounts. The FDA found only a few that exceeded the federal standard.
A FDA spokesman could not be reached for comment.