The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) have agreed to a timeline for the production of material NRDC requested under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) involving bisphenol A (BPA) in food packaging and food contact materials. NRDC v. FDA, No. 11-8662 (S.D.N.Y., stipulation and order filed February 21, 2012). Additional information about the litigation appears in Issue 420 of this Update. The agreement narrows the request, limits the FDA offices required to conduct searches for responsive records and specifies the format in which the records will be produced. It also creates a timeline for FDA to produce internal material, material involving other agencies and a list of withheld documents. Any further proceedings in the litigation NRDC filed to force the agency to respond to its FOIA request are stayed until further order of the court on or after August 22, 2012. NRDC is…
Tag Archives BPA
A recent study has claimed that bisphenol A (BPA) exposure causes pancreatic cells to secrete increased amounts of insulin, thereby raising questions about the substance’s effect on insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes and obesity. Sergi Soriano, “Rapid Insulinotropic Action of Low Doses of Bisphenol-A on Mouse and Human Islets of Langerhans: Role of Estrogen Receptor β,” PLoS One, February 2012. Researchers evidently used pancreatic β-cells, which produce insulin, as well as whole islets of Langerhans from human donors to demonstrate that “environmentally relevant doses of BPA (1 nM) stimulated glucose-induced insulin secretion in human islets, giving a response which is almost twice the insulin release elicited by a stimulatory glucose concentration, 8 mM.” According to media sources, the study pinpoints the mechanism by which BPA is thought to influence insulin production in pancreatic cells. “When you eat something with BPA, it’s like telling your organs that you are eating more…
Environmental health activists in Maine are reportedly campaigning to extend the state’s current ban on bisphenol A (BPA) in baby bottles, sippy cups and reusable food containers to all food containers within three years. Spearheaded by the Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine, the effort follows a chemical analysis funded by the group that detected BPA in baby and toddler foods. According to the activists, 15 food containers were sent to a San Francisco independent lab to test for BPA, a packaging chemical used as an epoxy liner inside metal food cans and metal lids of glass jars, that has allegedly “been linked to cancer, obesity, learning disabilities, male infertility, and early puberty in girls.” Test results found BPA in 11 of 12 baby food containers manufactured by BeechNut, Gerber, Earth’s Best Organic, and Shaw’s Wild Harvest Brand and in all three canned foods featuring Campbell’s Original Disney Princess…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Foreign Agriculture Service recently issued a Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) report concluding that a French proposal to prohibit all food packaging and materials containing bisphenol A (BPA) would “very likely… impact and jeopardize U.S. processed and other food exports to France.” Introduced after a French National Agency for Food Safety and Occupational and Environmental Health report questioned BPA’s safety, the legislation apparently reflects “strong political pressure from environmental and consumers’ groups,” as well as public distrust of the regulatory system following “the mad cow scandal, the Mediator diabetes drug scandal and even the PIP breast implant scandal.” As a result, the French food industry has evidently expressed concern that a BPA ban is unavoidable “in a short to medium term” even if the current bill is challenged at the EU level. The GAIN report warns U.S. companies that the proposed measure would require…
The Center for Progressive Reform has issued a paper titled “Protecting the Public from BPA: An Action Plan for Federal Agencies.” Contending that the chemical bisphenol A (BPA), which is used extensively in food contact materials, has negative health effects in low doses and that federal agencies have failed, to date, to regulate it, the center outlines short-term and long-term actions they should take. Among other matters, the paper suggests that the Food and Drug Administration use its new mandatory recall authority under the Food Safety Modernization Act to “recall certain foods containing toxins such as BPA, if the health hazard concerns become too great and traditional regulatory methods ineffective at protecting the public.” The paper also recommends that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) update its Integrated Risk Information System, which contains toxicological profiles on industrial chemicals, “to include current data to reflect the risks that have recently come to light,…
A recent study has allegedly concurred with theories suggesting that newborn mice exposed to bisphenol A (BPA) exhibit signs of behavioral changes as adults. Henrik Viberg, et al., “Dose-dependent behavioral disturbances after a single neonatal Bisphenol A dose,” Toxicology, December 2011. After administering a single dose of BPA to three groups of 10-day-old male mice, researchers reportedly found that the two groups exposed to the highest BPA concentrations behaved differently than normal mice when placed in new environments at 2 and 5 months of age. According to the study abstract, these findings suggest that “a single neonatal exposure to [BPA] causes adult disturbances in spontaneous behavior in a novel home environment” that are both dose-related and long-lasting. In particular, the authors noted that the apparent effects of neonatal BPA exposure on the cholinergic system are similar to those seen “after a single postnatal exposure to other [persistent organic pollutants], such as…
A federal court has approved an agreement between the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) resolving NRDC’s complaint that the agency unreasonably delayed issuing a final decision on its petition seeking a regulation that would prohibit the use of bisphenol A (BPA) in food packaging. NRDC v. HHS, No. 11-5801 (S.D.N.Y., consent judgment filed December 7, 2011). Under the agreement, FDA will issue its final decision on or before March 31, 2012. Noting that its petition was filed three years ago, an NRDC spokesperson said, “While we are glad FDA is finally going to make a decision [on] BPA in food packaging and this is a major step forward in the legal process, it is discouraging that FDA has not responded and that we had to ask the court to intervene just to get FDA to do its job. The agency has been dragging…
A recent Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) study has allegedly linked canned soup consumption to increased urinary bisphenol A (BPA) levels in humans. Jenny Carwile, et al., “Canned Soup Consumption and Urinary Bisphenol A: A Randomized Crossover Trial,” Journal of the American Medical Association, November 2011. According to a November 22, 2011, HSPH press release, researchers analyzed urinary BPA levels in 75 volunteers who first consumed one 12-ounce serving of canned vegetable soup for five days and then one 12-ounce serving of fresh vegetable soup for five days, or vice versa. The results evidently indicated that one serving of canned soup daily “was associated with a 1,221 percent increase in BPA compared to levels in urine collected after consumption of fresh soup.” Although the study authors acknowledged that further research is necessary to determine the duration of the BPA spike, they nevertheless found that “the magnitude of the rise…
A recent study has reportedly claimed that prenatal exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) could affect “behavioral and emotional regulation” in girls ages 3 and younger. Joe Braun, et al., “Impact of Early-Life Bisphenol A Exposure on Behavior and Executive Function in Children,” Pediatrics, October 2011. The results appear to confirm earlier research led by Harvard School of Public Health researcher Joe Braun that was covered in Issue 322 of this Update. Using a prospective birth cohort of 244 mothers and their 3-year-old children, the study authors measured gestational BPA exposure at 16 and 26 weeks and birth, as well as childhood exposure at 1, 2 and 3 years of age. Although they detected BPA in more than 97 percent of gestational and childhood urine samples, researchers also found that, especially among girls, “each 10-fold increase in gestational BPA concentrations was associated with more anxious and depressed behavior . . .…
French Health Minister Xavier Bertrand has become the second cabinet member to publicly declare his support for legislation recently adopted by the National Assembly that would prohibit bisphenol A (BPA) in all food packaging as of January 1, 2014. According to an October 7, 2011, press statement issued by Bertrand, the bill—if passed by the Senate later this year—would also require packaging that contained BPA to bear warning labels directed at pregnant women and children younger than age 3. In particular, Bertrand cited a recent government report that highlighted the alleged risks associated with low-level exposure to BPA, rendering the “precautionary” bill “legitimate and even necessary.” The minister also called for an intermediary measure that would prohibit BPA in food containers designed for children younger than age 3 by 2013. “I have always said that if we had new evidence, we would assume responsibility,” Bertrand was quoted as saying. “With…
