By Sandee LaMotte, CNN

(CNN) — At least 111 substances of unknown safety have been added to foods, drinks and supplements sold in the United States without alerting the US Food and Drug Administration, a new investigation found.

“Food companies are deciding on their own to secretly add unreviewed chemical ingredients to products instead of following existing federal guidelines meant to assure food is ‘generally recognized as safe,’ or GRAS,” said Melanie Benesh, vice president for government affairs for the Environmental Working Group, a health and environmental health advocacy organization that conducted the investigation published Tuesday.

To meet the GRAS standard, companies must demonstrate a new food ingredient is safe by providing widely accepted scientific evidence that’s publicly available. Notifying the FDA of that safety data is customary and ensures regulatory compliance. It’s also voluntary — which means manufacturers can legally self-determine their products to be safe.

“Manufacturers now routinely exploit this GRAS loophole — it’s fast becoming more ‘generally recognized as secret’ instead of ‘generally recognized as safe,’” Benesh said.

The EWG investigation found 49 of the chemicals added by industry in approximately 4,000 products listed in the US Department of Agriculture’s FoodData Central database, which provides public access to nutrient and ingredient information.

“Because the government has never reviewed these chemicals, consumers have no way of knowing if they are safe or carry unknown health risks,” Benesh said.

Even though the GRAS loophole is legal in the United States, it’s difficult to justify from a “scientific and ethical standpoint,” said Mathilde Touvier, director of research at France’s National Institute of Health and Medical Research in Paris, who studies the health harms of additives in ultraprocessed foods.

“It is highly problematic that companies are allowed to self-determine that their own ingredients are ‘GRAS,’ given the obvious financial conflict of interest,” said Touvier, who was not involved in the EWG investigation. “Decisions about the safety of food chemicals should be based on independent assessment by public health authorities.”

CNN reached out to the American Beverage Association and the Consumer Brands Association, who both represent food and drink manufacturers. The ABA did not send a response before publication.

Sarah Gallo, senior vice president of the Consumer Brands Association, said CBA was part of a coalition, Americans for Ingredient Transparency, which is advocating for “federal legislation establishing national uniformity for ingredient safety and disclosure.”

“We support GRAS reform being a part of that bill,” Gallo said, adding that the US has one of the “safest and most highly regulated food systems in the world.”

Adding extracts from ‘natural’ foods

Of the 49 chemicals found in foods, 22 were extracts, according to the investigation. Many appear natural and harmless: aloe vera, cinnamon, cocoa, cranberry seed oil, grape skins, green coffee beans, hemp, lemon balm and mushrooms, to name a few.

“When you start taking substances from grape skin, aloe vera and mushrooms, for example, you may have a concentrated extract or cocktail of substances that come out of it,” said biochemist Maricel Maffini, a former research assistant professor at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston who coauthored

By Ben Church, CNN

(CNN) — It’s now 100 days until the FIFA World Cup is set to begin in North America, and the intensifying war in the Middle East has raised further questions around what is already a controversial tournament.

Chief among those questions right now: Will Iran participate in the tournament now that it’s essentially at war with one of the hosts?

And while sport will be a secondary concern to those in the Middle East this week, the conflict has triggered fresh doubts over Iran’s participation in competition, with the country involved in escalating violence following strikes by the United States and Israel.

With the Islamic Republic’s leadership decimated and the country under attack, here is everything we know about the nation’s soccer team, just over three months before its first group stage game against New Zealand in Los Angeles.

Iran has cast doubt on participation

Given the rate at which events are unfolding across the Middle East, it’s very early to predict how the Iranian soccer team will be affected by the conflict.

Already, though, the president of the nation’s soccer federation has cast doubt on its involvement in the World Cup.

“What is certain is that after this attack, we cannot be expected to look forward to the World Cup with hope,” Mehdi Taj told sports portal Varzesh3, according to the Associated Press.

The killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has created a power vacuum in the regime, sparking a complex process of finding a successor. That makes it unclear who would be in charge of any decision about possibly boycotting the tournament, or what the next leader’s relationship with the US will be like.

When asked for comment on the situation, soccer’s world governing body FIFA referred CNN Sports to remarks by its general secretary, Mattias Grafstrom, on Sunday.

“It’s a bit premature to comment on that in detail, but of course we’ll monitor the developments around all issues around the world,” Grafstrom said after a meeting of the International Football Association Board in Wales.

“We had the final draw in Washington, where all teams participated. Our focus is to have a safe Word Cup with everyone participating.”

Prior tension between US and Iran around the tournament

Even before the most recent conflict broke out in the Middle East, there was already uncertainty about Iran’s participation in the tournament.

Fans from Iran are not able to enter the US after President Donald Trump’s administration imposed travel bans last year. It means many Iran supporters won’t be able to watch their team’s group games in California and Seattle.

And while athletes and coaches are exempt from the ban, Iran threatened to boycott the World Cup draw in Washington, DC, in December after members of its delegation were denied US visas.

In the end, a small delegation — including the team’s head coach — attended the ceremony, but the conflict gave a tangible example of the tension that was already simmering.

Iran was subsequently drawn into Group G and is set to play New Zealand, Egypt and Belgium at the World Cup.

The World Cup is set to be the biggest ever, with 48 teams playing in a tournament spanning Mexico, the United States and Canada from June 11 to July 19.

Sport has already been impacted

Th

By Jeremy Herb, Zachary Cohen, Natasha Bertrand, Jennifer Hansler, Kylie Atwood, CNN

(CNN) — In the weeks leading up to President Donald Trump’s decision to strike Iran and in the frenetic days since, the president and his administration have offered several evolving explanations — at times exaggerated or at odds with US intelligence — to justify why the attacks were necessary and what the US ultimately hopes to achieve.

Before Saturday’s joint US-Israeli military strikes that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Trump and his top officials overstated Iran’s capabilities to attack the US and just how close Tehran was from developing a nuclear weapon, sources told CNN.

Then after the initial wave of strikes, Trump cited an “imminent threat” to the US and administration officials said that the US acted in response to potential preemptive attacks by Iran on forces in the region — claims that were contradicted in Pentagon briefings to Capitol Hill that stated Iran was not planning to attack unless struck first.

Trump’s rationale for attacking the Iranian regime has whipsawed from protecting the demonstrators who protested in the streets of Iran in January to defending the US against the risk of Iran building nuclear and long-range weapons and eliminating a regime that’s backed terrorists killing Americans for decades. He’s called for the Iranian people to take control of their country even as top officials say the war is not about regime change.

“We have seen the goal for this operation change now, I believe, four or five times,” said Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Warner spoke following a classified briefing with top administration officials on Monday, one of several opportunities the administration took within a span of hours to explain its war with Iran to the public and to Congress. The administration officials will brief the full House and Senate on Tuesday ahead of expected votes teed up by Democrats to curb Trump’s military action in Iran.

Trump’s shifting justification for undertaking “major combat operations” in Iran is especially significant because of how little time he and his administration spent making a public case for war before it started — and before it began costing American lives.

Six US service members were killed by Iranian retaliatory strikes, a number Trump already warned is likely to increase. On Monday, three US F-15E fighter jets were shot down in Kuwait due to an “apparent friendly fire incident, the US military said. All six crew members ejected safely.

The war is poised to be among the most consequential decisions of Trump’s presidency, and it’s beginning with a public already skeptical of military intervention and a Congress that did not vote to authorize military action. A CNN poll conducted by SSRS after the strikes began found nearly 6 in 10 Americans disapprove of the US decision to take military action in Iran, as most say a long-term military conflict between the two nations is likely.

In contrast, the public initially supported President George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq, which was authorized by Congress. But Americans soured on that war amid mounting US casualties — and faulty intelligence claims from administratio

CNN

By Annie Grayer, MJ Lee, Aaron Blake, Emily Condon, Dugald McConnell, CNN

(CNN) — The House Oversight Committee on Monday released video of the closed-door depositions of Bill and Hillary Clinton that occurred last week as part of the panel’s investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.

The former president and secretary of state each faced roughly 4 ½ hours of questioning from Democratic and Republican lawmakers in their home city of Chappaqua, New York.

The much-anticipated depositions were the result of weeks of political and legal tussling that included the Clintons initially declining to testify. After House Republicans threatened to hold both in contempt of Congress, for which they could have faced criminal charges, the Clintons agreed to appear for the in-person depositions.

Both depositions were heavier on political posturing than significant new information.

While Bill Clinton has more of a documented relationship with Epstein, it was Hillary Clinton’s deposition that was often the more animated of the two. She repeatedly raised her voice with congressional Republicans who she suggested were out for political gain rather than for real information.

Bill Clinton, with a calmer demeanor and visibly shaking hands, denied having any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes during what he said was the pair’s “brief acquaintance.”

Lawmakers repeatedly showed the former president photos of him with women from Epstein materials recently released by the Justice Department, asking whether he had sex with them. Each time, he told them he did not.

Hillary Clinton tangled especially with some of the more outspoken female Republicans on the House Oversight Committee, balking at their questions about her husband’s ties to Epstein and the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory, and becoming furious when one of them shared a picture of her testifying, which is against House rules.

Here are key moments from the depositions.

Bill Clinton denies sexual activity in infamous hot tub photo

Around halfway through Bill Clinton’s deposition, the former president denied engaging in any sexual activity related to a photo of him in a hot tub near a woman whose face was redacted.

“I sat in the hot tub for five minutes or whatever it was, and I got up and went to bed,” Clinton told Republican Rep. Nick Langworthy of New York.

When asked whether he engaged in sexual activity with the person, Clinton said no.

“I don’t know who that is,” Clinton said when asked who the person was.

The former president said he thought everyone in the pool area was part of his travel party, which included Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and a team work

CNN

By Annie Grayer, MJ Lee, Aaron Blake, Emily Condon, Dugald McConnell, CNN

(CNN) — The House Oversight Committee on Monday released video of the closed-door depositions of Bill and Hillary Clinton that occurred last week as part of the panel’s investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.

The former president and secretary of state each faced roughly 4 ½ hours of questioning from Democratic and Republican lawmakers in their home city of Chappaqua, New York.

The much-anticipated depositions were the result of weeks of political and legal tussling that included the Clintons initially declining to testify. After House Republicans threatened to hold both in contempt of Congress, for which they could have faced criminal charges, the Clintons agreed to appear for the in-person depositions.

Both depositions were heavier on political posturing than significant new information.

While Bill Clinton has more of a documented relationship with Epstein, it was Hillary Clinton’s deposition that was often the more animated of the two. She repeatedly raised her voice with congressional Republicans who she suggested were out for political gain rather than for real information.

Bill Clinton, with a calmer demeanor and visibly shaking hands, denied having any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes during what he said was the pair’s “brief acquaintance.”

Lawmakers repeatedly showed the former president photos of him with women from Epstein materials recently released by the Justice Department, asking whether he had sex with them. Each time, he told them he did not.

Hillary Clinton tangled especially with some of the more outspoken female Republicans on the House Oversight Committee, balking at their questions about her husband’s ties to Epstein and the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory, and becoming furious when one of them shared a picture of her testifying, which is against House rules.

Here are key moments from the depositions.

Bill Clinton denies sexual activity in infamous hot tub photo

Around halfway through Bill Clinton’s deposition, the former president denied engaging in any sexual activity related to a photo of him in a hot tub near a woman whose face was redacted.

“I sat in the hot tub for five minutes or whatever it was, and I got up and went to bed,” Clinton told Republican Rep. Nick Langworthy of New York.

When asked whether he engaged in sexual activity with the person, Clinton said no.

“I don’t know who that is,” Clinton said when asked who the person was.

The former president said he thought everyone in the pool area was part of his travel party, which included Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell