That’s what Dominique Browning is proposing in the New York Times. She explains why “the system is broken” when it comes to product safety, and the surest evidence is in baby’s bottles.
We recently took a look at why it’s so hard to get rid of BPA in food containers if it’s becoming clearer that there are health risks to humans in consuming BPA (not to mention lab animals). Kiera Butler of Mother Jones tracks the problem back to a food industry practice — lining cans with a layer of plastic — that has been around for more than 50 years and which has helped keep people safe from botulism and other illnesses. Nowadays, manufacturers of canned food — including brands like Progresso, Campbell’s, and Hormel — don’t want to do much about the high rate of BPA (more…)
Denise Grady’s insightful report in the New York Times makes it clear why it’s so hard to remove the plastic bisphenol-A, or BPA, from various products — and from our own bodies. The reason is America’s general approach to food and product safety. This approach puts the onus not on industry, but on scientists (in and out of government), who must prove that it a product is unsafe after it has already been introduced. Grady contrasts our approach to that of the European Union, which favors the “better safe than sorry” method for approving the use of chemicals people are going to ingest. Seems like in America, it’s better sorry than safe. (more…)
Here’s why industry self-policing doesn’t work when it comes to dangerous chemicals. Last month the Environmental Working Group found that those shiny grocery and gas station receipts contain high levels of the chemical, bisphenol A (“BPA”), which is absorbed into our skin. The Food and Drug Administration is already considering whether to regulate BPA found in plastic food containers – including baby bottles – but only after a public outcry. (more…)
California’s state Assembly delivered a sharp slap across the face of the chemical industry Thursday, approving a bill that would phase out a controversial form of plastic from certain items made for young children.
The strategically named “Toxin-Free Toddlers and Babies Act” would ban Bisphenol-A or BPA, a type of plastic, from baby bottles and other items designed to be used for feeding children under age 3 in 2012, according to Susan Carpenter of the Los Angeles Times. (more…)
For an instructive view into the legislative sausage factory, look no further than the battle over Bisphenol A. (more…)
