So it turns out this chemical used to mimic the taste of butter can kill people who work in the manufacturing plants that use it. Naturally, the FDA and OSHA’s all over it. Right?

Bronchiolitis obliterans causes inflammation and obstruction of the small airways in the lung by rapid thickening or scarring. The irreversible condition is progressive and often fatal without a lung transplant.

Recent cases that NIOSH scientists have learned about include a man who worked at a small Baltimore-area flavoring company, a man who worked at a North Carolina potato chip plant, and an employee at a Chicago candy maker, and workers at a Cincinnati flavoring plant.

“We need to get into some of these plants because we don’t have confidence that the flavoring industry has taken steps to actually prevent this disease, and we need to determine how widespread the exposure may be,” Kreiss told The (Baltimore) Sun.

But while scientists at NIOSH and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration want to intensify investigations, agency leaders say they don’t plan to act because they believe enough is being done now.

“OSHA advises its inspectors that workers may be at risk of overexposure to vapors of artificial flavorings in a variety of food processing work sites,” said Al Belsky, a Labor Department spokesman.

“There is nothing to indicate that additional regulations are needed,” Belsky added.

David Michaels, an epidemiologist at George Washington University’s School of Public Health who examined OSHA’s handling of the popcorn workers’ sickness, called its inaction “criminal.”

Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration has allowed flavoring producers and sellers to decide which chemicals are safe, and California’s occupational safety agency has delegated health examinations of flavoring workers to an industry-paid doctor.