No responsible parent would expose their infant to cigarette smoke or car exhaust. But every day in America, millions of infants are exposed to dangerous chemicals hiding in plain view. This exposure can lead to a wide range of adverse health effects later in life -- from increased cancer risk to infertility.
This chemical is called BPA -- short for bisphenol A, a key component of plastics --and it is found everywhere in modern life.
BPA lines the cans of soup on your pantry shelf, and the soft drink cans in your refrigerator. This compound is also in baby bottles, water bottles, plastic containers and countless other everyday food and beverage containers.
And that's a big problem. BPA leaches into food products and beverages, especially when heated in plastic containers. Moreover, a growing body of scientific evidence shows that exposure to this chemical, at very low levels, may be dangerous for humans - especially during prenatal development and early infancy.
Nearly 200 scientific studies show that exposures to low doses of BPA, particularly during pregnancy and early infancy, are associated with a wide range of adverse health effects later in life.
Increased risk of breast and prostate cancer. Genital abnormalities in male babies. Infertility in men. Early puberty in girls. Type-2 diabetes. Obesity. These are just some of the health problems now being linked to BPA exposure.
One survey, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, estimated that 93 percent of Americans have BPA in their urine.
Another study, published in September 2008 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found significant links between exposure to high levels of BPA and a variety of ailments and abnormalities, including diabetes, heart disease, and high liver enzyme levels.
Last year the National Toxicology Program, which is part of the National Institutes of Health, reported "some concern" that BPA may affect neural development in fetuses, infants and children at current levels of exposure.
Despite the growing evidence, the Food and Drug Administration last year claimed that BPA is safe. But an investigation by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel revealed that lobbyists for the chemical industry wrote significant parts of the FDA's assessment.
On top of that, the agency's own panel of outside scientific advisors questioned the FDA's findings, and now the agency is reassessing its position on BPA.
New findings from the FDA are expected any day now. But states, local governments and private corporations are not waiting around.
Connecticut and Minnesota, and the city of Chicago, have restricted the use of BPA. The government of Canada has banned the chemical outright in all baby bottles.
Wal-Mart and Toys "R" Us will no longer sell baby bottles containing the compound.
In March, six U.S. manufacturers of baby bottles announced they will no longer use the chemical in their products.
Also in March, Sunoco, the large American petroleum and petrochemical manufacturer, announced it would no longer sell BPA without guarantees it will not be used to manufacture baby bottles.
The writing is on the wall.
Yet despite the growing patchwork of restrictions, and the laudable moves by industry to clamp down on its use, there today are no federal curbs.
We must wait no longer. That's why earlier this year I introduced the Ban Poisonous Additives (BPA) Act of 2009, which would eliminate the use of BPA from all food and beverage containers.
This legislation would:
Jennifer Grayson: Eco Etiquette: How Do I Avoid The Sneakiest Sources Of BPA?
When are you going to insist on Banning the use of High Fructose Corn Syrup in our nations food supply?
HFCS is doing far more damage to the health of our nation than BPA!
Because food manufacturers want to save a few cents on the products they make it is costing this nation BILLIONS every year with the Obesity, Diabetes and hundreds of other ailments associated with Obesity and Diabetes.
These diseases can be directly linked with the consumption of High Fructose Corn Syrup, mostly because our bodies do not know how to digest it.
But the plastic lining on the inside of metal cans and bottle caps is a more difficult transition, since epoxy, which contains BPA, is uniquely well-suited to that application compared to possible alternative plastic coatings.
Again, it's less difficult for high-end products, such as the metal bottles made by SIGG, which now come with a new "EcoCare" liner made of polyester. But such thermoplastic coatings cannot be applied in a water-based form as with epoxy. They have to be applied using a pressurized powder coating process, which is more complicated.
Canning is a vast industry, and if there is no drop-in replacement for epoxy, the conversion to thermoplastic powder coating will be quite expensive. As with many government regulations, the cost of compliance unfortunately weighs most heavily on the smallest businesses.
Today the only coke that is the real thing is hecho in mexico. It has taken me years to convince friends and loved ones that water in plastic bottles is not better than filtered tap water. While i'm at it, kudos to u lady senator for your strong support of our troops and our national security. Stand with the President in the reasonable middle, don't allow the left or right and their hotheads to screw things up. I have admired you since the day you dealt with the tragic Moscone Milk Assasinations. Gods Speed Lady Senator.
The only other person i've heard talk about this lately is Thom Hartmann.
BPA is extremely dangerous, and MUST be banned immediately.
We need hemp legalized so we can export hempoil based plastics.
Canola oil 133 gallons per acre
Hemp oil 1,000 gallons per acre.
But epoxy and other hard, rigid plastics aren't made from oils, natural or petrochemical.
It won't really matter because most of us couldn't afford the treatments needed from the effects of BPA because after all these months the only people that will benefit from your latest healthcare reform slight of hand is the really really poor uninsured and the really really wealthy who can pay out of pocket expenses upfront literally out of their pocket. The rest of us will just die so you won't have to bother with us.