The politics of bisphenol A in Minnesota

Our friends at Healthy Legacy sent along this blog post about the effort to ban bisphenol A (BPA) from baby bottles and sippy cups in Minnesota. 

The post was written by Megan Gamble at MN Publius.  She makes the point that the chemical industry's arguments in opposition to the proposed state ban on BPA sounds alot like those used by the tobacco industry, when it was trying to convince the public that smoking was safe. 

And we all know how that turned out.

Folks at Healthy Legacy reported the other day that at least 25 industry lobbyists and representatives from  out of state groups were at the state capitol lobbying against the BPA bill.  

There are just a handful of environmental health activists working on the legislation but it has the support of thousands of parents and others who care about children's health.

And the nation's eyes are on Minnesota to see whether it will become the first state to pass BPA ban legislation -- and whether Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty, who vetoed similar legislation last year, has had a change of heart and will sign the bill this time. 

Here's a piece of what Megan had to say about a recent hearing in Minnesota.

Point being, at this committee hearing, there were plenty of lobbyists and representatives of the chemical industry quoting studies and “science” to the Senators.  I don’t believe we can expect our representatives to be experts on everything under the sun, and I’d be willing to bet that a lot of them don’t have a background in chemistry or chemical engineering.  With a subject this new (Minnesota may be the first state to pass a BPA ban) there is a lot of information to digest.  And so it has become advantageous for the industry lobby to try to create doubt about the science that is being quoted, with the hope of stalling or trumping the bill.

Stay tuned to SaferStates.org to learn what will happen to the BPA bill in Minnesota.