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New Legislation to BAN BPA

PRESS RELEASE FROM SEN. CHUCK SHUMER (D-NY) :

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 8, 2008

With Children Across Westchester County Exposed To Potentially Toxic Chemical In Everyday Baby Bottles And Toys, Schumer Unveils Senate Bill To Ban Bisphenol-A From Children’s Products

U.S. Study Released This Month Found ‘Bisphenol-A’ May Pose Dangers to Human Development and Reproduction; BPA Found in Children’s Products across the Hudson Valley

Wal-Mart and Toys ‘R’ Us Announced they are Pulling All Products Containing the Chemical from Their Shelves
Schumer, Standing with Congresswoman Lowey at the Ossining Children’s Center, Unveils Senate Bill to Ban Noxious Chemical from Children’s Products

With kids across Westchester County and the Hudson Valley exposed to the potentially toxic chemical bisphenol-A in their everyday baby bottles, sippy cups, and toys, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today unveiled legislation that would ban BPA in children’s products. Earlier this month a U.S. government study revealed that bisphenol-A, a chemical used to make plastics clear and shatter-resistant, could pose major health risks, affecting reproduction and neural development during early life exposure. Major U.S. retailers like Wal-Mart and Toys ‘R’ Us are already pulling baby bottles containing bisphenol-A from their shelves, and the bottle-maker Nalgene said it will discontinue production of its line of bottles that rely on the substance.

Schumer, standing at the Ossining Children’s Center in Westchester County, unveiled legislation introduced in the Senate last week that would ban BPA from children’s products, as well as mandate that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conduct a comprehensive study of the health effects of BPA in children and adults.

“When a fire starts to burn, you don’t wait for it to engulf the house before you sound the alarm. There have been enough warning signs about the dangers of this chemical that we cannot sit idly by and continue to allow vulnerable children and infants across Westchester County to be exposed,” Senator Schumer said. “Many manufacturers and retailers are already taking the appropriate steps to get these products off the shelves, and now we want to make sure that everyone takes the same responsible steps.”

“Knowing that BPA may be responsible for harming the mental and physical development of children, there is no excuse for children’s products to contain this potentially dangerous chemical.  Congress should pass Senator Schumer’s BPA-Free Kids Act, and I will fight to ensure that the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency have the resources they need to protect our children,” said Congresswoman Lowey.

The federal government released a draft report recently that found that BPA is potentially dangerous to human development and reproduction. The finding by the National Toxicology Program (NTP), a division of the Department of Health and Human Services, calls into question previous analyses of the FDA that found minimal concern related to BPA.  Since the release of the NTP report, the FDA has convened a Task Force to reexamine the research on this issue.

BPA is used to make plastics clear and shatter-resistant, and is commonly found in water bottles, food containers, baby bottles, some dental fillings and the coatings for the inside of cans containing foods. While BPA has earned approval by the FDA for what are called “food contact” consumer products, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) research has shown that 95% of tested Americans have BPA levels at or above those found to cause abnormalities in animals. Bisphenol-A has been known to mimic the hormone estrogen and recent studies have raised concerns about the hormonal impact the chemical can have on the prostate gland, mammary gland, and reproductive development of fetuses, infants, and children.

Since 1997, over 100 published studies have documented adverse effects in animals caused by exposure to low levels of BPA. Lab animals exposed to BPA have been found to be more likely to have miscarriages, prostate problems and cancers. Studies also link BPA to obesity, infertility and behavioral changes in test animals. A government panel that reviewed the safety of BPA was found to rely on studies that found no harm that were largely paid for by the chemical industry.

Today, Schumer unveiled legislation introduced last week in the Senate that would ban BPA from children’s products across the Hudson Valley and New York State. It would also mandate that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conduct a comprehensive study of the health effects of BPA in children and adults.

Hundreds of BPA products have been banned in countries around the world but are available to U.S. consumers without any warnings. In the past two years, legislators in several states have introduced bills that would restrict local sale of infants’ and children’s products containing BPA, including California.

SOURCE : Sen Schumer’s Website