FDA’s declaration that BPA is not harmful was based on chemical industry’s report

Articles — By forcechange on October 24, 2008 3:55 pm

Previously, we’ve looked at the potential dangers of BPA, which is a chemical found in many plastics and aluminum can linings.  Our most recent post on the subject noted that the FDA found that the chemical is not dangerous to human health at typical exposure levels.  However, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported this week that the FDA’s report was “written largely by the plastics industry and others with a financial stake in the controversial chemical” (italics added).

The Journal Sentinel notes that the executive director of the American Chemistry Council group on bisphenol A (a trade group for US chemical companies), commissioned a review of all studies of the neurotoxicity of bisphenol A and submitted the report to the FDA. The FDA then used this report as the basis for its determination that BPA is not dangerous.

BPA, which many scientists believe causes adverse effects on human hormonal systems (especially in developing children) has already been declared hazardous by Canada and was banned from baby bottles in that country.  Apparently, BPA was first developed in 1891 as a synthetic estrogen.

As a side note, TheDailyGreen makes a great point about the continued importance and value of the mainstream media in conducting investigative journalism, like that seen by the Journal Sentinel.  Dan Shapley writes, “It’s not that online media can’t undertake investigations of the same kind, but these news gathering institutions have deep histories, long experience, and are still — unquestionably — relevant.”