[Pharmwaste] FDA Issues Warning About BPA (bisphenol-A) Exposure

[DeBiasi, Deborah (DEQ)]

The site below has a couple of informative videos on BPA too.


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/01/18/earlyshow/health/main6110716.s
html


NEW YORK, Jan. 18, 2010 
FDA Issues Warning About BPA Exposure
Agency Calls Chemical Safe, But It Has "Some Concern" About Potential
Effects, Especially on Fetuses, Infants, Young Kids
Font size Print E-mail Share 18 Comments 

 Play CBS Video 
Video
 
FDA: Limit BPA Consumption
 
The Food and Drug Administration is now warning to limit BPA
consumption, a common chemical in canned foods. As Kelly Wallace
reports, BPA is normally not labeled on products.
 
A collection of sport and baby bottles potentially containing the
compound bisphenol A, or BPA. The compound, commonly used in
polycarbonate plastic bottles (to make them unbreakable), is also found
in the linings of food cans.  


FDA Gives Controversial Chemical 2nd Look 

(CBS)  The Food and Drug Administration is encouraging families to limit
their children's exposure to a chemical found in thousands of household
products. 

CBS News correspondent Kelly Wallace reports that, for years, concerned
mothers, environmental groups and some scientists have been warning that
Bisphenol A, commonly known as BPA, is unsafe, and can lead to cancers,
diabetes and other diseases. 

Now, in a shift in the agency's position, the FDA is saying the chemical
is of "some concern." However, as CBS News found out, limiting your
exposure to it isn't easy. 

The FDA announced, on the basis of new studies that can test for "subtle
effects" that, while BPA is still considered safe, it now has "some
concern" about the potential effects of the chemical - especially on the
"brain behavior and prostate glands in fetuses, infants and young
children." 

The American Chemistry Council, a product advocacy group, says BPA is
safe. 

The council's Lisa Harrison told CBS News, "What's important to remember
is the FDA indicated that the BPA has not been proven harmful to
children or adults. And that if they believed it was unsafe, they
would've issued stronger regulations." 

In a non-scientific "Early Show" experiment, Wallace ate a sandwich made
from canned tuna, which consumer groups have found to contain BPA.
Shortly afterwards, she had her blood drawn. For the next two days,
Wallace tried to live a BPA-free life, during which she tried to avoid
all foods in cans or plastic containers. 

Then she had her blood drawn again. Her serum samples were shipped to
the lab of University of Missouri professor Fred Vom Saal. 

Vom Saal told Wallace, "The first set of blood that you gave us had high
levels of Bisphenol A in it. It's over five times higher than what we
find on average in women in the United States." 

However, after her BPA-free diet, Vom Saal said her levels were much
lower than average. 

Wallace asked, "How convinced are you that elevated levels of BPA in
people's bodies can lead to cancers, heart disease, obesity and early
puberty?" 

He replied, "I and other colleagues of mine at an NIH (National
Institutes of Health) meeting said, with a very high level of
confidence, we think Bisphenol A is a threat to human health." 

Wallace added on "The Early Show" it's hard to avoid BPA because,
currently, manufacturers aren't required to label products containing
the chemical. 

However, you can reduce your BPA intake, Wallace said, by limiting your
use of canned food. Also, baby bottle manufacturers only make bottles
that are BPA-free. In addition, if plastic containers have the number
three or seven on the bottom, it means it does contain BPA. Some
recycled pizza boxes, also, contain BPA. 

But Wallace said you can still enjoy your pizza: "Everything is relative
if eaten in moderation."

********

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/18/EDNS1BJSM8.D
TL

Risk on the shelves from BPA    Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Our federal and state governments have dragged their feet in addressing
the risks of BPA exposure - due mainly to relentless lobbying by the
chemical industry, which has argued that the science is inconclusive.
Attempts to ban or regulate the chemical wind a long, sad path back to
San Francisco, which was the first municipality to attempt a ban on BPA
in children's products in 2006. For two years the California Legislature
tried, and failed, to pass a similar ban. Sen. Dianne Feinstein,
D-Calif., also faced an uphill battle last year on Capitol Hill with her
bill to ban BPA in all food and beverage containers. The chemical
industry has used every weapon at its disposal - including lawsuits, in
the case of San Francisco - to keep BPA on the shelves and in our
bodies.

So the Food and Drug Administration deserves mild applause for reversing
its position on BPA, calling it a "concern" and offering ways in which
the public can reduce its exposure to the chemical. It would have been
far better for the FDA to ban the chemical, or at least require
manufacturers to label products that contain it. Instead, it offered the
familiar "more study is needed" defense and said that it doesn't have
enough data to support a legal crackdown. 

Still, this is progress of a sort: Under the Bush administration, the
FDA used two studies that had been funded by the chemical industry to
claim that BPA was safe. Those days are over. And the FDA said that it's
planning to reclassify the chemical while it waits for more data, which
will require manufacturers to disclose more information about it. 

But for the moment, it seems that consumers are still on their own when
it comes to protecting themselves and their families. 


Bisphenol A is a synthetic estrogen that has been linked to cancer,
sexual dysfunction and heart disease. Canada classifies it as a toxin.
But in the United States, it is in such widespread use that more than 90
percent of us have traces of it in our bodies. You find it in soda cans,
plastic bottles, food containers, baby products and anywhere else
plastic is in use.

The Department of Health and Human Services has released a list of ways
to reduce your exposure. It can be found at www.hhs.gov/safety/bpa.






Deborah L. DeBiasi 
Email:   Deborah.DeBiasi at deq.virginia.gov (NEW!)
WEB site address:  www.deq.virginia.gov 
Virginia Department of Environmental Quality 
Office of Water Permit Programs 
Industrial Pretreatment/Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) Program 
PPCPs, EDCs, and Microconstituents
www.deq.virginia.gov/vpdes/microconstituents.html 
Mail:          P.O. Box 1105, Richmond, VA  23218 
Location:  629 E. Main Street, Richmond, VA  23219 
PH:         804-698-4028 
FAX:      804-698-4032