[phnofive]

I'm failing to find any study linking BVO to thyroid impairment in humans - obviously we're not going to dose people, but even a low-quality food journal correlation would be nice. So far all I can find is animals and BeWo. I'm nonetheless OK with seeing it discouraged (banning feels weird next to the ATF), I was just hoping for better data.

If you can find some and share, thanks in advance!

[InSteady]

We know that bioaccumulation of bromine is a potentially serious problem [1]. Among other nasty effects, it can displace iodine in the thyroid, skin, and mammary glands.

With improved techniques for measuring the content of BVO in beverage products currently on the market, as well as techniques for detecting it in fat deposits in rats, we now have pretty good evidence that it bioaccumulates more than we thought [2].

This is better than a weak correlational study imo. In any case, it's good enough for me, personally. I expect there will be follow-up studies to detect levels in humans who have regularly consumed the beverages in question, but waiting until then to pull this additive would be fairly unethical.

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC501258/

[2] https://www.fda.gov/food/food-additives-petitions/brominated...