Can America Protect Consumers from BPA in Food Packaging?

Can America protect consumers from Bisphenol-A (BPA) in food packaging?  Chances are it's in the can linings and lids of containers most commonly found in grocery stores.  It's also in many polycarbonate plastics and some sports bottles.  California's US Senator Dianne Feinstein has introduced a bill that calls for labeling BPA in food packaging so consumers can choose whether to expose their families to the known hormone distrupting chemical.  The Food and Drug Administration has not acted on science-based calls to remove BPA from all packaging.  Now, Feinstein's bill would have the Health and Human Services Department require at least a label when the controversial substance is used.

The bill states: 

"the Secretary (of Health and Human Services) shall determine 

13 whether there is a reasonable certainty that no harm 

14 will result from aggregate exposure to bisphenol A 

15 through food containers or other items composed, in 

16 whole or in part, of bisphenol A, taking into consid-

17 eration potential adverse effects from low dose expo-

18 sure, and the effects of exposure on vulnerable popu-

19 lations, including pregnant women, infants, children, 

20 the elderly, and populations with high exposure to 

21 bisphenol A."

Senator Feinstein stated, "Our children should not be used as guinea pigs by chemical companies when their parents are left in the dark about these harmful products." 

BPA and its cousin BPS are on the Hazardous 100+ list of chemicals that a broad coalition called Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families is asking stores to stop carrying through its Mind the Store effort.  SCHF scientists note that BPA causes, "harm to brain, behavior and prostate in young children; many other effects triggered by hormone disruption." BPA would be one of many questionable substances scrutinized under the proposed Safe Chemicals Act that survived a committee vote before lapsing in the last Congressional session.