The Breast Cancer Fund is heartened that the FDA has registered concern about BPA and is advising parents to reduce children’s exposure while it further investigates the chemical. We support the measures announced by the FDA to encourage industry efforts to replace BPA in baby bottles and infant formula, to further develop alternatives, and to replace or minimize BPA in other food containers.
We agree with the FDA’s assessment that a complete overhaul of the regulatory framework that allowed BPA to be approved as a packaging additive is critically needed.
But we are concerned that the announcement today does not go far enough to protect public health, and even sends a mixed message to consumers.
Fortunately, there is legislation in front of the Senate that would take more decisive action to protect children’s health, and it goes one step further by protecting pregnant women as well. The bill, introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., would ban BPA from baby bottles, sports water bottles and reusable food containers. The bill would also ban BPA from canned foods where safe alternatives exist and require labeling where they don’t. And the bill would give the FDA the authority to modernize its process for reviewing and approving food-packaging additives like BPA.
The Breast Cancer Fund calls on Congress to prioritize the passage of this important public health legislation.
For more information, visit:
www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/PublicHealthFocus/ucm064437.htm
www.hhs.gov/safety/bpa/