California bills roll on

Two key pieces of legislation in California's fight against flame retardants and bisphenol A  moved forward yesterday.   

The state's proposed BPA ban (Senate Bill 779) and legislation that would help remove flame retardants from children's products (Senate Bill 772) passed out of July 7 committee hearings.

 “The chemical industry put on a full court press and Assembly Health Committee members got an earful from industry lobbyists," said Gretchen Lee Salter of the Breast Cancer Fund. "Ultimately, legislators saw that the science against BPA is just too strong, and that kids had to come before high-priced lobbyists."

Multiple calls to action for the hearings meant audiences filled with activists, who report that passions ran high. Read the CHANGE (Californians for a Healthy & Green Economy) Twitter feed for more from the BPA hearing.

The bills were predicted to have a rough road through the Assembly, in big part because California's efforts on both are expected to set the stage for national efforts.

As Elisa Batista pointed out earlier this week on Daily Kos, the big businesses behind flame retardant and BPA put their products in every community.

"Because manufacturers are loathe to create multiple lines to meet the needs of different states, most likely, families in other states are laying their babies to sleep in products with this toxic foam," she wrote. "So this is not an issue limited to California."

But manufacturers who get on board with the community's desire for healthy products could see benefits beyond health, Elisa Odabashian and Dr. Urvashi Rangan write at Grist.

"As more consumers proactively seek out BPA-free products, it is not only feasible, but potentially profitable, for industry to switch to alternative chemicals in the production and sale of food and beverage containers-ones that don’t leach BPA."