According to a news source, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is poised to prohibit the use of bisphenol A (BPA) in baby bottles and sippy cups in response to a petition filed by the American Chemistry Council. A council spokesperson apparently stated during an October 7, 2011, press briefing that while scientific data and government assessments have declared the chemical safe and U.S. manufacturers ceased making these products with the plasticizer in response to market demand, the council took the action because of “quite a bit of legislative activity around a product that doesn’t exist” and “[c]onfusion about these products has become an unnecessary distraction to consumers, legislators and state regulators.” An environmental advocate reportedly characterized the council’s petition as a “stunning reversal,” noting that the “industry spent millions this year fighting efforts in California and other states to ban BPA in baby bottles and sippy cups.” The Environmental…
Tag Archives BPA
The Carcinogen Identification Committee of California EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) will meet October 12-13, 2011, to consider, among other matters, whether bisphenol A (BPA) should be designated as a high priority for preparation of hazard identification materials and further considered for inclusion on the state’s list of chemicals known to cause cancer (Prop. 65). Among those filing comments on the proposal are the Polycarbonate/BPA Global Group of the American Chemistry Council, North American Metal Packaging Alliance, Grocery Manufacturers Association, and Toy Industry Association. They contend that BPA should be designated as a low priority.
The Breast Cancer Fund (BCF) recently issued a report alleging that six canned meal products marketed to children contain bisphenol A (BPA) at levels averaging 49 parts per billion (ppb). Researchers reportedly sent 12 items total to an independent laboratory, which pureed the can contents in “BPA-free materials” and assessed BPA levels using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry. According to the results, the sampled soups averaged 77.5 ppb of BPA and the meals 21 ppb, with one canned soup purportedly registering a BPA level of 148 ppb. “The levels of BPA we found in these canned foods marketed to children are of great concern,” states BFC in its report. “While a child-sized serving (about two-thirds of an adult-sized serving, according to Kaiser Permanente’s serving size estimates for children) may result in BPA exposure at a level of concern, an adult-sized serving given to a child would result in even higher BPA exposure.”…
A recent study funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reportedly measured internal exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) from dietary sources, with results suggesting that the substance is, for the most part, metabolized and excreted by the body. Justin Teeguarden, et al., “Twenty-Four Hour Human Urine and Serum Profiles of Bisphenol A during High-Dietary Exposure,” Toxicological Sciences, September 2011. Scientists with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, and Northwest Pacific National Laboratory apparently profiled the urine and blood serum of 20 healthy adults for 24 hours (24-h) after “high-dietary” BPA exposure via meals enriched with canned foods. “From a safety perspective, the most pressing fundamental question regarding BPA is whether human blood/tissue concentrations of BPA following typical daily exposures are similar to, above, or below blood/tissue concentrations causing demonstrably adverse effects in animal models,” wrote the authors. “The main objective of this study was…
A Japanese research institute recently issued an updated hazard assessment of bisphenol A (BPA) suggesting that the chemical poses minimal or no risk to human health. The Research Institute of Science and Sustainability (RISS), which is part of Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, examined BPA data “from 2005 onwards” to assess its general toxicity as well as its reproductive toxicity in the next generation. According to the assessment’s abstract, “no toxic effects on the reproductive potential of the next generation except for a slight prolongation of gestational length of F1/F2 at 300 mg/kg bw, and a no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) of 50 mg/kg bw have been noted.” It also said that BPA carcinogenicity by “oral administration has already been determined to be negative from bioassays.” The abstract added, “with regard to skin irritation, skin sensitization, skin photo-irritability, and photo-sensitization due to BPA, it was believed that there…
The Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. (NRDC), a non-profit advocacy organization, has filed a complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), seeking an order compelling FDA to issue a final response to NRDC’s October 2008 petition calling on the agency to prohibit the use of bisphenol A (BPA) in food packaging and other food-contact materials. NRDC, Inc. v. HHS, No. 11-5801 (S.D.N.Y., filed August 19, 2011). In June 2011, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals apparently dismissed a similar complaint, agreeing with FDA that it had been filed in the wrong court. Additional information about that complaint appears in Issue 356 of this Update. According to the new complaint, the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act requires FDA to respond to petitions like the one NRDC filed “within 90 days.” Yet, “ [m]ore than one thousand…
California EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has announced that its Carcinogen Identification Committee will discuss whether 39 chemicals should be prioritized “for possible preparation of hazard identification materials” during the committee’s October 12-13, 2011, meeting. While no decision will be made at this meeting about adding the chemicals to California’s Proposition 65 (Prop. 65) list of substances known to the state to cause cancer, the process OEHHA is following could ultimately lead to their inclusion. Public comments on the 39 listed chemicals are requested by September 20, 2011. Among those chemicals under consideration is bisphenol A (BPA). According to OEHHA’s supporting materials, which include references to numerous carcinogenicity and genotoxicity studies, billions of pounds of BPA are produced each year in the United States, and most human exposure occurs “through the diet.” Other chemicals under consideration are those used in agriculture, such as the fungicides chloropicrin, dicloran,…
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) related to bisphenol A (BPA) toxicity testing and the study of its potential environmental impacts. The agency has requested comments by September 26, 2011, on (i) requiring toxicity testing “to determine the potential for BPA to cause adverse effects, including endocrine-related effects, in environmental organisms at low concentrations,” and (ii) monitoring for BPA in surface water, ground water, drinking water, soil, sediment, and landfill leachate “to determine whether environmental organisms may currently be exposed to concentrations of BPA in the environment that are at or above levels of concern for adverse effects, including endocrine-related effects.” According to a July 26, 2011, EPA press release, the ANPRM builds on a March 2010 action plan meant to strengthen the agency’s chemical management program and “assure the safety of chemicals that many American encounter in their daily lives.”…
A multidistrict litigation court in Missouri has denied motions for class certification in 24 transferred cases against companies that make baby bottles and sippy cups allegedly containing bisphenol A (BPA). In re: Bisphenol-A (BPA) Polycarbonate Plastic Prods. Liab. Litig., MDL No. 1967 (W.D. Mo., decided July 5, 2011). The plaintiffs sought to certify various classes, including individual state classes and multi state classes as to certain claims and defendants. The court focused on the commonality, predominance and superiority prongs of class certification to conclude that differences in state laws and facts unique to each putative class member rendered the claims unsuitable for class treatment. Still, the court dismissed the requests to certify individual statewide classes without prejudice, finding it appropriate to allow the transferor courts to determine whether these classes met the certification requirements when the cases are returned to their jurisdictions. The court also indicated that it would delay remand…
A recent University of Michigan study has reportedly suggested that phthalates and bisphenol A (BPA) could affect thyroid functioning in humans. John Meeker and Kelly Ferguson, “Relationship Between Urinary Phthalate and Bisphenol A Concentrations and Serum Thyroid Measures in U.S. Adults and Adolescents from NHANES 2007-08,” Environmental Health Perspectives, July 11, 2011. Researchers apparently used thyroid serum measures from 1346 adults and 329 adolescents enrolled in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to determine that “[g]enerally speaking, greater concentrations of urinary phthalate metabolites and BPA were associated with greater impacts on serum thyroid measures.” In particular, the study found that as urinary metabolite concentrations for di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) and BPA increased, certain thyroid hormones decreased. “The current study showed the strongest relationship between thyroid disruption and DEHP,” explained a July 12, 2011, University of Michigan press release, which noted that “urine samples in the highest 20 percent of exposure…
