State AGs Ask Baby Bottle Manufactures to Remove Bisphenol A
The attorneys general for Connecticut, Delaware and New Jersey have written to 11 companies asking them to discontinue the use of bisphenol A (BPA) in baby bottles and infant formula packaging. Attorneys General Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Anne Milgram (N.J.) and Joseph R. Biden III (Del.) apparently asked manufactures to “affirm [their] commitment to safe products for our children,” citing recent studies that purportedly link BPA to “potential health problems.” The letter also noted that U.S. Representatives John Dingell (D-Mich.) and
Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) have called for a Senate bill to ban the substance in all children’s products, as well as an investigation spearheaded by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). “The preventable release of a toxic chemical directly into the food we eat is unconscionable and intolerable,” Blumenthal was quoted as saying. “Credible, escalating laboratory evidence demonstrates that even low-dose exposure to BPA causes serious damage to reproductive, neurological and immune systems during the critical stages of fetal and infant development.” See Connecticut Attorney General’s Office Press Release and Associated Press, October 13, 2008; Delaware Attorney General’s Office Press Release and Law360, October 14, 2008;
Meanwhile, Dingell and Stupak have reportedly initiated a probe to discern whether the chair of the FDA Science Board’s subcommittee on BPA failed to disclose a potential conflict of interest. Subcommittee Chair Martin Philbert, co-director of the University of Michigan’s Risk Science Center, accepted on behalf of his institution a $5 million donation from Charles Gelman, a retired manufacturer of medical equipment who previously stated that BPA was “perfectly safe.” Once alerted to the potential conflict, a high-ranking FDA official apparently
looked into the matter and found nothing improper about the donation because it did not pay Philbert’s salary. “That is an incredibly narrow definition of what might constitute a conflict,” opined an October 14, 2008, New York Times editorial, which urged greater transparency in the FDA review process. “Consumers need to know that any decision on BPA is completely unbiased – and that the FDA is, too.” See Law360, October 16, 2008.
