The FDA

[jinx]

Congress moves to ban BPA in all food containers

Represenatives and senators in Congress yesterday introduced legislation to establish a federal ban on bisphenol A in all food and beverage containers. The bills, introduced by Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., greatly expand earlier efforts to limit the chemical from products used only by babies and children.
The move comes a day after Sunoco, the gas and chemical company, sent word to investors that it was now refusing to sell bisphenol A, commonly known as BPA, to companies for use in food and water containers for children younger than 3. Sunoco told investors that it could not be certain of the compound's safety. Last week, six baby bottle manufacturers, including Playtex and Gerber, announced that they would stop using BPA to make baby bottles.

So Sunoco, and some member of congress have reason to believe that BPA isn't safe, especially for children. There is quite a bit of evidence suggesting they are correct.

Association of urinary bisphenol A concentration with medical disorders and laboratory abnormalities in adults.

Perinatal exposure to bisphenol-A alters peripubertal mammary gland development in mice.

But the FDA ignored that and other evidence when they declared BPA to be safe.

The excluded studies suggest bisphenol A, or BPA, could pose harm to children at levels at least 10 times lower than the amount the agency says is safe, according to the report written by outside scientists asked to review the agency's handling of the controversial substance.

The scientists took the FDA to task for basing its safety decision in August on three industry-funded studies. Another government agency, the National Toxicology Program, decided many other independent studies deserved consideration. The toxicology program concluded last month there is "some concern" that BPA alters development of the brain, prostate and behavior in children and fetuses.
The expert panel also found the FDA underestimated how much BPA babies ingest on several counts. For one, the agency failed to consider the cumulative effect of being exposed to BPA from dozens of products, a fundamental error that "severely limits the usefulness" of the FDA's safety estimate.

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Instead, they relied only on the outcomes of 3 industry-funded studies. Are they idiots? Or...

The FDA subcommittee is chaired by Martin Philbert. He is the acting director of the University of Michigan's Risk Science Center, which received a $5 million donation in July from Charles Gelman, the retired head of a medical device manufacturing company and an ardent defender of BPA. Mr. Gelman told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which reported the story, that he discussed his views with Dr. Philbert. Dr. Philbert told us that he put the kibosh on any discussion of BPA with Mr. Gelman once the context of his interest became clear.

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But yeah, he took the money. And didn't disclose it.

Dr. Philbert did not disclose to the FDA Mr. Gelman's gift to the Risk Science Center. Dr. Philbert told us that the FDA form asked for disclosure of gifts from which the recipient personally stands to gain. The donation was made to the university with a stipulation to endow professorships and student scholarships at the center. The money won't start flowing until next year, when a permanent director is expected to be in place. Dr. Philbert is not under consideration for the post.

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