$5 million donation puts impartiality of FDA panel in question

The chairman of the Food and Drug Administration panel responsible for an upcoming ruling on the safety of controversial chemical Bisphenol A received a $5 million donation from a retired medical supply manufacturer who calls BPA “perfectly safe,” according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The donation was made to the research center of Martin Philbert, an FDA scientist and chairman of the FDA’s BPA panel.

Philbert did not disclose the donation, which is nearly 50 times larger than the $210,000 annual budget of the University of Michigan Risk Science Center, where he is founder and co-director. FDA officials learned of the link from the Journal Sentinel.

Donor Charles Gelman, once labeled the second worst polluter in Michigan by the state's Department of Natural Resources, said in an interview that he considered the chemical, which is used to make baby bottles and aluminum can liners, to be safe. Worries about health problems that may be caused by the chemical are exaggerated by "mothers' groups and others who don't know the science," Gelman said.

He said that he had made his views clear to Philbert in "several conversations."

Philbert denied that.

According to the Journal Sentinel, Gelman’s donation was made in July, the same month Philbert was named the head of the panel. The panel is expected to release its opinion on the safety of BPA this month.

The decision of Philbert's committee is being watched carefully by chemical-makers and is expected to have huge implications on the regulation and sale of the chemical in items such as baby bottles, reusable food containers and plastic wraps.

Developed originally as a synthetic form of the hormone estrogen, bisphenol A is used to make hard clear plastic in water bottles, baby bottles and other household products. It is also used as a liner in aluminum cans and in many dental sealants. The chemical has been detected in the urine of 93% of Americans tested.

A variety of studies have recently linked BPA exposure in humans to heart disease, diabetes, obesity and infertility.

Last year, the Journal Sentinel reviewed 258 research papers and found that a large majority of those studies showed bisphenol A was harmful to lab animals. Those that didn't find harm overwhelmingly were paid for by the chemical industry.

To read the whole Journal Sentinel story, click here. Also on the Journal Sentinel's blog: Government leaders ask companies to stop using Bisphenol A in baby bottles.