Toxic Nation | Pollution. It's In You.

It had to be expected. As the report on Toxic Baby Bottles in Canada was released last week, drawing media attention and consumer concern, the chemical industry lashed back. The latest article posted on the Canadian Plastics website   followed the sentiments of PlasticsEurope and the American Council on Science and Health. The repeated message is that governments have reviewed the scientific information on potential human exposure to bisphenol A and have approved the use of bisphenol A as safe for humans. 

These industry reports are ignoring many significant facts:

1)     More then 130-peer reviewed studies have confirmed that low levels of bisphenol A exposure are associated with adverse health effects in animals.

2)     Lab studies on animals show bisphenol A is toxic at doses overlapping with or very close to human exposures.

3)     Not a single regulatory agency has updated their safety standards to reflect the risk of low-dose toxicity.

There is a disparity between the level of science used by regulators and the current scientific knowledge on the levels that can harm us. Our country classifies toxicity based on high dose, but the reality is much more complicated.

The failure of government to implement the current scientific knowledge is extremely convenient for industry. In fact, investigations into the science presented by chemical companies in the U.S. further discredits the industry stand-point. The Weinberg Group, consultants for DuPont and other chemical companies, is under investigation by the U.S. Congress for shaping information on Bisphenol A to help keep it from being banned or restricted.

In fact, the firm suggests that is should help “shape the debate” on chemicals by “implementing a strategy at the outset which discourages government agencies, the plaintiff’s bar, and misguided environmental groups from pursuing this matter any further that the current risk assessment contemplated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)” (Weinberg Group, 2003 in a letter to DuPont de Nemours & Company).

While industry boasts the lack of regulation, we will keep pressuring government to acknowledge what is widely known: chemicals need to be properly regulated.

Cassandra