Effort to List Bisphenol A Under Prop. 65 Slows Due to Staffing Shortages

California EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has reportedly delayed a decision about whether to list bisphenol A (BPA) under Proposition 65 because it lacks sufficient staff to complete needed research. OEHHA’s Developmental & Reproductive Toxicant Identification Committee (DART) was apparently scheduled to decide whether to include BPA on the list of chemicals known to the state to be reproductive toxicants at a November 20, 2008, meeting, but the chemical, which is used in plastic bottles and to
line metal cans, was removed from the agenda and will be addressed at “the earliest possible meeting date following the meeting on Nov. 20.” This may occur a year from now because the DART committee meets annually. See Inside Cal/EPA, October 31, 2008.

Meanwhile, the Environmental Working Group, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit consumer and environmental advocacy organization, has apparently called on major food companies and infant formula manufacturers to “immediately phase out the use of BPA” in their product lines. The October 31, 2008, letters to corporate CEOs cite National Toxicology Program concerns about babies’ exposure to the chemical and refer to recent criticism leveled by an advisory panel against the Food and Drug Administration’s draft BPA risk assessment. More details about the advisory panel’s draft peer review appear in issue 280 of this Update. See Environmental Working Group Press Release, October 31, 2008.