Government Regulations of BPA

GOVERNMENT REGULATION OF BPA

CANADA:

• In 2006, the  Chemicals Management Plan was introduced to review the safety of widely-used chemicals that have been in the marketplace for many years, and to update our knowledge and understanding of these chemicals.

•  In 2008 Canada banned baby bottles containing BPA. They also proposed declaring BPA toxic because of reproductive and developmental toxicity and environmental effects.

• On October 13, 2010, BPA was declared a toxic chemical by the Canadian government and added it to Schedule 1 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.  Canada was the first country to make this declaration.

•  The American Chemistry Council, a Washington- based industry group criticized Canada’s decision. This lobby group speaks on behalf of a $10B a year industry.

•  On December 2, 2010 (less than 2 months later) Health Canada backed down and published this statement “exposure to BPA though food packing is not expected to pose a health risk to the general population, including newborns and infants”

UNITED STATES:

• The FDA approved the use of BPA in the 1960s. And in 1976, BPA was included in a list of more than 60,000 chemicals deemed safe by the US Toxic Substances Control Act

•  In 2008, a National Toxicology Program at the Department of Health and Human Services said it had "some concern" about the possible health effects of BPA on the brain, behaviour and prostate gland of fetuses, infants and children. Nonetheless, months later, the FDA said the chemical was completely safe.  Subsequently, the FDA review board rejected this conclusion.

•  In January 2010, the FDA released a new statement, saying that BPA is of "some concern" for infants and children. Around this time, the Obama administration announced $30M in funding to “answer key questions about the chemical that will help determine what action, if any, is necessary to protect public health.”

•  The FDA was sued in July 2010 by the Natural Resources Defence Council for failure to respond to their petition with 18 months as required by law. This petition called upon the FDA to ban the use of biphenyl A (BPA) in food packaging, food containers, and other materials likely to come into contact with food.

•  The court decision was released in December 2011 which called upon the FDA to make a final decision about BPA by March 31, 2012.

OTHER COUNTRIES:

• In December 2010, the European Union (EU) passed legislation that requires testing and classifying chemicals before they can be put into products.

•  On May 31, 2011, the EU banned the sale of baby bottles containing BPA.

• China and the European Union have enacted legislation prohibiting and restricting the use of endocrine disruptors (including BPA) in commercial products.

                                             

My next blog on BPA presents an overview of the plethora of research done on BPA. Some scientists have been working on it for more than 20 years and they are calling for public input to move the politicians. Someone has to speak up for our environmental health and we need to counter the lobby group for the chemical industry.