FDA concern about BPA in food packaging

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Excerpt from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/16/health/16plastic.html

 

January 16, 2010

F.D.A. Concerned About Substance in Food Packaging

By DENISE GRADY

In a shift of position, the Food and Drug Administration is expressing concerns

about possible health risks from bisphenol-A, or BPA, a widely used component of

plastic bottles and food packaging that it declared safe in 2008.

The agency said Friday that it had " some concern about the potential effects of

BPA on the brain, behavior and prostate gland of fetuses, infants and children, "

and would join other federal health agencies in studying the chemical in both

animals and humans.

The action is another example of the drug agency under the Obama administration

becoming far more aggressive in taking hard looks at what it sees as threats to

public health. In recent months, the agency has stepped up its oversight of food

safety and has promised to tighten approval standards for medical devices.

Concerns about BPA are based on studies that have found harmful effects in

animals, and on the recognition that the chemical seeps into food and baby

formula, and that nearly everyone is exposed to it, starting in the womb. . .

health officials suggested a number of things people could do to limit their

exposure to BPA, like throwing away scratched or worn bottles or cups made with

BPA (it can leak from the scratches), not putting very hot liquids into cups or

bottles with BPA and checking the labels on containers to make sure they are

microwave safe. The drug agency also recommended that mothers breastfeed their

infants for at least 12 months; liquid formula contains traces of BPA.

BPA has been used since the 1960s to make hard plastic bottles, sippy cups for

toddlers and the linings of food and beverage cans, including the cans used to

hold infant formula and soda. Until recently, it was used in baby bottles, but

major manufacturers are now making bottles without it. Plastic items containing

BPA are generally marked with a 7 on the bottom for recycling purposes.

The chemical can leach into food, and a study of more than 2,000 people found

that more than 90 percent of them had BPA in their urine. Traces have also been

found in breast milk, the blood of pregnant women and umbilical cord blood.

Reports of potential health effects have made BPA notorious, especially among

parents, and led to widespread shunning of products thought to contain the

chemical. Canada, Chicago and Suffolk County, N.Y., have banned BPA from

children's products.

The government will spend $30 million on BPA research in humans and animals, to

take place over 18 to 24 months, health officials said at a news briefing on

Friday.

Dr. Linda Birnbaum, director of the National Institute of Environmental Health

Sciences, said the research would involve potential effects on behavior,

obesity, diabetes, reproductive disorders, cancer, asthma, heart disease and

effects that could be carried from one generation to the next.

 

Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Research Center for Women and

Families, said the F.D.A. had not gone far enough, because its recommendations

put the responsibility on families and not on companies making products

containing BPA. In addition, Ms. Zuckerman said, the focus on safety should not

be limited to children, because studies have linked the chemicals to heart and

liver disease and other problems in adults.

Government evaluations of BPA have had a contentious history. The drug agency

wrote a draft report calling it safe in 2008. But shortly after that, the

National Toxicology Program, part of the National Institutes of Health, said BPA

was cause for " some concern, " citing the same issues that the drug agency is now

agreeing to: potential effects on the brain, behavior and prostate in fetuses,

infants and children.

Then the drug agency asked an independent panel of scientific advisers to review

its draft report, and the panel gave it a scathing review. It accused the F.D.A.

of ignoring important evidence and giving consumers a false sense of security

about the chemical. The drug agency promised to reconsider BPA, and the

announcement on Friday fulfilled that pledge.

 

Gardiner Harris contributed reporting from Washington.