BPA bills on the move in key states
Bills that would ban bisphenol A from children’s products are scheduled to make their way through key committees and legislative bodies during the next week. Although Suffolk County, New York passed its ban on BPA in baby bottles earlier in April, no state government has yet passed BPA legislation.
Swarms of plastics industry and chemical lobbyists have descended on states with BPA legislation and are investing untold thousands of dollars and using their considerable political muscle to defeat the bills.
Environmental health advocates are looking for help to pass their legislation to eliminate the toxic chemical from baby bottles, sippy cups and even infant formula cans.
Minnesota’s BPA ban, which will prohibit BPA in baby bottles and sippy cups, passed the Senate on April 28 with a bipartisan vote of 54-11. A vote in the House could come as early as Wednesday, April 29 or Thursday, April 30.
Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty, who vetoed chemical reform legislation last year, has sent signals that he will sign the bill if it passes the legislature. (He must have come to regret his veto of that legislation, which was accompanied by an error-riddled press release based on talking points from the chemical industry.) But after the bill sailed through the Senate, the Governor’s office did some backpedaling on its support.
Advocates at Healthy Legacy are asking people to call Governor Pawlenty to let him know you support BPA-free baby bottles at (800) 657-3717.
Legislation in Connecticut that would ban BPA from food and beverage containers – including infant formula cans – is up for a vote in the House on Wednesday, April 29. Connecticut is the only state that has a provision to eliminate BPA from cans.
The Coalition for a Safe and Healthy Connecticut is asking that people make calls to legislators to urge them to support the bill.
California’s BPA ban is up for a vote on Wednesday, April 29 in the State Senate Health Committee, according to the CHANGE California coalition.
And The JustGreen Partnership reports that New York State’s BPA bill is headed for a vote in the Assembly on Tuesday, May 5.
JustGreen is asking those in New York State to phone their representatives and ask them to support the bill. Call (518) 455-4100.
Stay tuned to SaferStates.org for updates on these important bills.
The BPA ban bill in Washington State failed to make it out of the Senate on Sunday, April 26, the last day of the regular legislative session. Environmental health advocates at the Washington Toxics Coalition noted with alarm that Wal-Mart, which has received public kudos for voluntarily pulling BPA baby bottles from its shelves, supported amendments to the bill that would have weakened provisions to keep BPA out of baby bottles.
Attention Wal-Mart: you’ve got some explaining to do.
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Posted by margie on Apr. 29, 2009
Today the Connecticut legislature passed the BPA ban bill out with a vote of 128-14. The bill now moves to the Senate. See more from the Coalition for a Safe and Healthy Connecticut at http://www.safehealthyct.org
California's ban passed out of the Senate Health committee with a vote of 6-2. See CHANGE for more information at http://www.changecalifornia.org/
Posted by margie on May. 07, 2009
This is a smoking post on the intrigue with Wal-Mart in Washington State and the bigger problem of undue industry influence on the BPA fight.
http://www.publicradio.org/columns/sustainability/greenwash/2009/05/unsafe_at_any_sip_washington_b.html
Unsafe at any sip: Washington babies lose
And for today’s jeopardy: Who is the U.S Trade Representative to China and why did he meddle with Maryland’s proposed healthy toy bill? What percentage of Wal-Mart products are made in China? (hint: 70%) Why do we still believe that a little bit of toxins are ok for babies? Who would jettison baby health for a $700,000/hour market for a chemical? What does it mean to be “free” of something ? (in this case to be BPA free)?
In Washington State, we just botched a prime opportunity to ban Bisphenol A (BPA) in baby bottles. BPA, an endocrine disruptor— the regulator for your entire body— is bad juju for pregnant women, babies in utero and infants… at teensy weensy levels measured in parts per billion. The bad juju is heart disease, diabetes, cancer and metabolic disorders. Both Wal-Mart and the American Chemistry Council (ACC) arrived in our mossy spring to just add a few “touch ups” to Washington’s now buried Safe Baby Bottle Bill.
Enter (tada….) doubt and uncertainty, the playing card which routinely kills good public health policy, and the black labyrinth called risk assessment where industry and independent scientists duke it out in a dizzying mosh pit.
Last year, Wal-Mart received kudos worldwide for announcing its intention to pull baby products containing BPA from its shelves. Even the investors noticed. But this year, the lawyers noticed as well, bringing a class action lawsuit (opens PDF) against the top four polycarbonate plastic bottle manufacturers for using BPA. Ouch.
The puzzle is why did Wal-Mart submit an amendment to the Washington State legislature to permit what’s called a “de minimus” (teensy weensy) amount of BPA in baby bottles that is thousands of times higher than levels where we see adverse health effects? Does it have anything to do with the fact that 70% of their products are manufactured in China where chemical policy might not be in the forefront of manufacturing priorities? Safer alternatives are available and they are being used in the market but Wal-Mart and the ACC will step in to set “safe” limits where the feds left a continent-sized hole.
This story traces back to the massive federal regulatory failure when the National Toxicology Program (Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction) hired a company that had a Hummer-sized conflict of interest to run the risk assessment for BPA. They based their entire risk assessment on two industry-sponsored studies that found BPA ok at particular levels but decided to ignore 98 other independent studies that found to the contrary. Oops. Oh well, they got fired anyhow under intense pressure from smart scientists and people with good values.
Federal Government: F Wal- Mart:?? Parents: Going Nuts
So, what is a parent to do? There’s a plethora of great resources out there including choosing safer baby products, the Smart Plastics Guide for food products (opens PDF), and a broader coalition of parents sick of trashing kids for commercial values. Go find your de minimus… of sickening trade-offs.
* May 7, 2009 by Heidi Siegelbaum
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