AG takes on industry plot to deceive public about BPA

Connecticut’s Attorney General is going after the food packaging and chemical industries for their plans to use fear tactics and misleading advertising to convince the public that bisphenol A is a safe chemical for food and drink containers. Connecticut just passed a ban on BPA in such containers and now AG Richard Blumenthal is putting corporations on notice that “coercive campaigns” won’t be tolerated.

BPA is a synthetic form of estrogen, which is used to harden plastics like baby bottles and line food and soda cans. The chemical leaches into food and drinks and disrupts hormones in the body, leading to problems as wide-ranging as early puberty and heart disease.

Blumenthal cited news that representatives of the chemical and food packaging industries recently met in Washington D.C. to discuss how to improve public opinion on BPA by using fear tactics and misinformation. The chemical industry may have even broken some laws in trying to keep the BPA legislation from passing in Connecticut, according to Blumenthal.

Blumenthal said in a Monday, June 15 press release:

"Colluding in a campaign of confusion and concealment – potentially endangering children and pregnant women – is appalling and possibly illegal," Blumenthal said. "We are demanding details about industry giants plotting to use deceptive, and possibly illegal, tactics to blur the truth about BPA dangers. This misinformation campaign could menace public health by confusing consumers and convincing them to ignore mounting scientific evidence that BPA, even in minute doses, endangers children and pregnant women.

"I am calling on these companies to disavow this unconscionable campaign to deliberately deceive the public, and instead commit to educating and protecting our citizens."

Industry representatives are backpedaling after the damning meeting notes were revealed. According to a story in Forbes:

The metal packaging group said in a statement Monday that its members are looking into methods to "more effectively communicate full scientific facts."

"We emphatically support the many global scientific reviews that have consistently concluded that BPA is safe for food contact applications," the group said. "We are fully cooperating with the State of Connecticut's and Congress' inquiries."

If you’d like to see this resolved once and for all, tell your legislators that you support a national ban on BPA in food and beverage containers.