The committee of experts advising the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) commissioner released a report that says the FDA is wrong about the safety of bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical compound used throughout the bottle-manufacturing industry.  Plastic baby bottles and the bottles water is sold in frequently contain BPA, which can leach out of the plastic and into the food or beverage held in the container.  Most canned food items are lined with a BPA film to prevent chemical interactions between the metal can and the food it contains.

Many scientific studies have linked BPA to increased risk of behavioral and developmental problems when exposure occurs during infancy and childhood.  Other concerns are that exposure to BPA increases the likelihood of developing diabetes, triggers early sexual development (early puberty), and may increase the risk of cancers of the breast and prostate.  A Canadian ban against all BPA-based plastics became effective earlier this month.

According to the Science Board advisory panel, the FDA ignored valid scientific evidence in favor of less-solid and scanty evidence that failed to clearly identify the dangers associated with BPA.  A September draft of the FDA’s risk assessment of BPA includes the conclusion that BPA in food and beverage containers is safe for people of all ages.

In response, the advisory board report calls the FDA margin of safety inadequate and its risk assessment understated when it identified only “some concern” that BPA might affect neurobehavioral development in infants and young children.  An FDA spokesperson says the agency has called for more BPA research due to uncertainties lingering over previous studies.

Speaking on behalf of the environmental advocacy group, the Natural Resources Defense Council, reproductive biologist Sarah Janssen says we should eliminate all BPA in food containers.  She further says the current levels of exposure to BPA in the American food supply is not safe.

BPA manufacturers are part of the trade group, the American Chemistry Council, which says its members would cooperatively comply with the final FDA decision on the matter, including a ban on BPA for products sold on the US market.  BPA-containing products have been voluntarily phased out over several months in Canada, in readiness for the ban.

In spite of the FDA’s preliminary report declaring BPA safe as it is currently being used, the attorneys general of several states and at least two state representatives have issued the call to all manufacturers of baby formula to replace BPA in its products with a safer alternative.  Bart Stupak and John D. Dingell, both state representatives from Michigan, support the change.  Dingell is chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

There is scandal amidst the current BPA ruling, too, involving the FDA’s advisory panel chairman, Martin Philbert.  Philbert is co-director of the Risk Science Center at the University of Michigan.  Charles Gelman, a retired businessman and staunch supporter of BPA, donated $5 million to the Philbert’s science center.  Dow Chemical donated $15 million to the center, although that money is allocated for dioxin research.  Philbert says his work on the FDA advisory panel was not influenced by these donations even though one major aspect of Dow Chemical’s operations is the manufacture of BPA.

Source: Washington Post