OEHHA Reproductive Toxicant Committee to Discuss Bisphenol A for Prop. 65 Listing
California EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has announced a July 15, 2009, meeting of its Science Advisory Board’s Developmental and Reproductive Toxicant Identification Committee. The committee, which will be discussing whether bisphenol A (BPA) “has been clearly shown, through scientifically valid testing according to generally accepted principles, to cause reproductive toxicity,” is charged with identifying chemicals for addition to the list of chemicals known to the state to cause reproductive toxicity under the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Prop. 65). BPA is used extensively in metal and plastic food and beverage packaging.
Among those who have submitted comments for the committee’s consideration are consumer interest groups, the Environmental Working Group, Natural Resources Defense Council, Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), American Chemistry Council, and North American Metal Packaging Alliance. GMA contends that scientific evidence “does not ‘clearly show’ a causal link between BPA and developmental and reproductive harm.” According to its submission, “Current exposure levels of BPA are safe for consumers and the environment, as demonstrated not only by repeated testing and review by qualified experts, but also by the history of over 60 years of commercial canned food safety.”
The submission from a coalition of consumer interest organizations states in part, “The case of BPA is reminiscent of the tobacco industry’s campaign to deny the health hazards of smoking. For years, state agencies and scientific bodies were unsure how to act on tobacco due to the ‘dueling science’ that confronted decision makers. We now know that much of the science demonstrating no adverse effect from tobacco products was produced by the tobacco industry as a way to manufacture doubt in regulators’ minds long enough to sell their product for a little while longer.” They argue that industry is engaged in the “same scenario” as to the safety of bisphenol A.
According to the comments submitted by the North American Metal Packaging Alliance, the use of BPA in metal food packaging positively affects human health by protecting food quality and nutrition, “while enabling high temperature sterilization that eliminates the dangers of food poisoning from microbial contaminants.” The alliance points to studies and governmental findings that BPA exposures from canned products are low and “not expected to pose a health risk to the general population.”
