Chicago takes on BPA while FDA continues to defend its use

An editorial in the Chicago Tribune on Feb. 11 praises city aldermen for sponsoring a resolution to ban children’s products made with bisphenol A (BPA), a synthetic sex hormone linked to breast cancer, diabetes, male infertility, and other health problems.

Noting that infants and children are most at risk from BPA exposure, which leaches from food and beverage containers including baby bottles and cans, the Tribune called the resolution “an important step in protecting the youngest, most vulnerable, Chicagoans.”

Yet the U.S. Food and Drug Administration continues to play the role of lapdog to the chemical industry.

The FDA issued a press release one day before the Chicago hearing to restate that the levels of exposure to BPA through food packaging is “do not pose an immediate health risk to the population, including infants and children.”

The timing and content of the FDA release is extremely suspicious. The Feb. 9 release was ostensibly about a meeting held between the FDA and its Canadian counterpoint, not usually a subject worthy of a press alert. But it did give the FDA a chance to repeat the (chemical) company line about the safety of BPA just one day before the Chicago City Council’s Finance Committee voted on the BPA resolution.

The same tactic was much more successful for opponents of BPA regulation in California, contributing to the defeat in August of first-in-the-nation legislation that would have banned BPA from baby bottles and children’s drinking cups.

Following a heavy lobbying blitz to defeat the ban by the chemical industry, the FDA issued a press release stating that BPA was safe just one day before the vote in California, and weeks ahead of its re-evaluation announcement scheduled for September. Coincidence?  Unlikely.

The FDA, which was sent back to the drawing board to revise its assessment of BPA, is scheduled to provide an update on their progress on Feb. 24. The first assessment was found to be seriously flawed after it was revealed that the FDA relied solely on industry studies that found BPA exposure was not a health threat and ignored hundreds of other studies finding health problems in children from BPA exposure at levels 10 times lower than what the FDA currently deems safe.

The chemical industry is interested in delaying any action on BPA for the foreseeable future and at least until the FDA completes its review.  But the Chicago resolution said that if the FDA didn’t act by April 30, Chicago will “aggressively pursue” a city ban on BPA.  If the FDA again refuses to take action to protect infants and children from harm linked to BPA exposure, every city and state in America may be left to follow state advocacy groups working to ban BPA in Connecticut,  Minnesota, Washington, and Chicago.