Bad press keeps coming for BPA

There’s sure been a lot of bad press lately on bisphenol-A (BPA). None of it very encouraging, other than the fact that some very smart and significant people are starting to take notice. Hopefully. A new study published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reinforced the need for a closer look at BPA for its effects upon reproductive and hormonal problems.  The JAMA study also raised the spectre of a new problem associated with the chemical – heart disease.  Another BPA study conducted by the Yale School of Medicine and published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences should also make us wary of the recent FDA ascertain that BPA poses no health threat.  According to this research, BPA is linked to problems with brain function and mood disorders in monkeys. 

Said Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, "Unfortunately the regulatory agency charged with protecting the public health continues to rely on industry-based research to arrive at its conclusions, rather than examining the totality of scientific evidence."

No! Really? Having a properly functioning brain and heart are highly overrated, so we should all be fine.

Said the American Chemistry Council, an industry trade group, "As the authors themselves note, they do not conclude that the presence of BPA is causing adverse health effects — they merely noted a statistical association.”

Thankfully, mega-retailers Wal-Mart and Toys R Us are a little more concerned than the ACC and have already taken steps to no longer buy products containing BPA, and other retailers are following suit.

Want to do something about this in Oregon? Send your legislator a note today telling them we need to close the loopholes in our product system that let chemicals like BPA, phthlatates, and lead into things we buy and use everyday.