Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill into law that bans the toxic chemical bisphenol A, or BPA, from baby bottles and sippy cups, making California the eleventh state to restrict BPA in infant feeding products. The new law represents yet another step in the governmental and market movement away from this synthetic estrogen linked to breast cancer and other serious health problems.
“Getting BPA out of baby bottles and sippy cups is an important first step in removing this toxic chemical from our food packaging,” said Gretchen Lee Salter, policy manager at the Breast Cancer Fund.
The bill, sponsored by Assemblywoman Betsy Butler, D-Torrance, and Sen. Fran Pavley, D-Santa Monica, was modeled on similar BPA bills that the legislature failed to pass in 2008, 2009 and 2010, and that have been supported by the Breast Cancer Fund, Environmental Working Group, Physicians for Social Responsibility-L.A. and Consumers’ Union. The legislation is a response to mounting scientific evidence that exposure to even extremely low levels of BPA can negatively impact health. More than 200 scientific studies show that BPA exposure is associated with a wide range of adverse health effects, including breast and prostate cancer, birth defects, infertility in men, early puberty in girls, diabetes and obesity. The primary route of exposure is through the leaching of BPA from food and beverage containers. Once in food, BPA moves quickly into the body.
“BPA has no place in baby bottles, and it also doesn’t belong in any of our food containers,” said Salter. “We need to demand that manufacturers get BPA out of food cans. That’s the goal of the Breast Cancer Fund’s Cans Not Cancer campaign.” Learn more about the campaign at www.breastcancerfund.org/cansnotcancer.