We've covered the trouble with BPA before: it's the plastic ingredient and endocrine disrupter that has people throwing out everything from baby bottles to Nalgene brand bottles.
It seems more and more people are becoming convinced -- even Canadians!
It's Not That Complicated: Bisphenol-A [BPA]
The New York Times has the full story, but the word on the street in Canada is that BPA is about to be officially labeled as toxic.
This comes on the heels of the US Health and Human Services' National Toxicology Program endorsing a claim that there is "some concern" that BPA might be harmful to human life, as it had caused precancer in mice.
NPR's Melissa Block asked Dr. Michael Shelby, who oversaw the report, whether he would use one of these bottles for his old child or grandchild. His reply, "when used properly, these [plastic] bottles may well be safe. We just can't say whether they are or not," was hardly confidence-inspiring, as evidenced by the comments on the NPR story. The reaction to this issue gives us some hope that the next US government determination on BPA and other potentially toxic chemicals will err on the side of human health -- rather than the plastic industry's bottom line.
image Jonathan Bean
Tags
personal health, air & water quality, The New York Times, BPA, Nalgene, NPR, bisphenol-ARelated Links
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Comments (7)
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Don't hold your breath, they still think global warming is just our imagination!
view SFGail's profile
I was listening to a story about this the other day on the CBC. From what I understand, it is soon going to be illegal to sell baby bottles made out of it. I am not sure about other plastics, but many sellers are refusing to stock these plastics at their stores as well.
view Hollie's profile
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/04/18/bisphenol-a.html
heres the baby bottle article
view Hollie's profile
SFGail, I certainly hope you're not referring to all Canadians, because that would be a huge and unwarranted generalization, and I doubt you'd do that. Yes, we happen to have a prime minister who would like to ignore global warming. Do the majority of us agree? I would say not. Much of the country thinks he's an ass, but the electoral system allowed him to come to power without a majority of support. Every other party leader realizes the importance of reducing emissions.
Global warming and environmentalism happen to be major issues here. Frankly, I'm offended by the ignorance of your comment. Where's your BPA ban? And even before the ban was proposed, stores here voluntarily pulled suspect products off the shelves.
-An angry Canadian
view lemonader's profile
Lemonader,
take a deep breath and read the last sentence of the article again:
"The reaction to this issue gives us some hope that the next US government determination on BPA and other potentially toxic chemicals will err on the side of human health -- rather than the plastic industry's bottom line."
SFGail is very likely responding to this and complaining about the US government and their history of inaction.
Have a nice day, eh?
view Rebecca_South's profile
Ah... I was hoping that was what she was referring to. I walked away and that occurred to me... But it was a little vague. Gail, if that was your intention, my apologies for speaking out of line.
view lemonader's profile
Yes, I was writing about my own government. In particular to Bush's announcement that we have no need to act on global warming until 2025.
view SFGail's profile