The BPA is out of the barn

A quick follow-up to my last post on plastics in baby bottles – several new developments in the BPA saga.

BPA (bisphenol A), a plasticizer associated with multiple toxic effects including endocrine disruption, is all over the news again today.

1. Canadian group Environmental Defence released a lengthy report supporting contentions that BPA leaches easily into baby bottles. According the news release, “Health Canada is currently conducting a safety review of bisphenol A as part of the federal government’s Chemicals Management Plan, and will recommend whether to regulate the chemical in the coming months.” Hello, EPA? FDA? Anyone home in the U.S.?

When you add concerns raised by the recent EWG study – BPA is already getting into infant formulas from the cans they’re stored in – you’ve got a double-whammy exposure.

2. The Center for Health, Environment and Justice highlighted yet another study on the toxic effects of BPA (“Baby’s Toxic Bottle: Bisphenol A Leaching from Popular Baby Bottles”) and called for “an immediate moratorium on the use of bisphenol A (BPA) in baby bottles and other food and beverage containers.”

3. The icing on the cake? ABC News reports that Congress is investigating the Washington, D.C.-based Weinberg Group, on charges of “manufacturing uncertainty” on behalf of BPA-related industries to help keep their products free from government bans or other restrictions. Now there’s a big surprise. According to the report:

“The tactics apparently employed by the Weinberg Group raise serious questions about whether science is for sale at these consulting groups,” said Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee, in a statement Wednesday. The chairman pointed to a confidential Weinberg Group document published in 2006, in which the firm suggested to DuPont de Nemours & Company several ways it could help “shape the debate” about one of its chemical products.