May 20, 2009
Despite accumulating evidence and moves by retailers to drop products
containing bisphenol A — commonly called BPA — the Food and Drug Administrations official
position remains that the chemical can be safely used to make infant
formula bottles.
Now the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that it has obtained emails that it says show the FDA relied on chemical industry lobbyists to help reach that conclusion.
The emails show the lobbyists examined BPAs risks, tracked legislation that would have limited or banned it, and even monitored news coverage.
In one case, the newspaper reports the FDAs deputy director requested information from the chief industry lobbyist to discredit a study that found the chemical caused miscarriages in workers exposed to it.
In the document published by the newspaper, Mitchell Cheeseman, deputy director of the FDAs center for food safety and applied nutrition, said: Id like to get information together that our chemists could look at to determine if there are problems with that data in advance of possibly reviewing the study.
In a report last October, a scientific panel assembled by the FDA to study the agency's position on the controversial found a lot to criticize. While not taking a position on whether BPA is safe, the panel criticized the FDA for allegedly ignoring studies that claim BPA is dangerous.
In ignoring that research, the panel said, the FDA is creating what it called a false sense of security among consumers, who assume products containing BPA pose no threat because the FDA says its safe.
Baby bottles
Some retailers, including Wal-Mart, have taken those studies very seriously, pulling products containing BPA from their shelves, if the products are intended to be used by children.
BPA is widely used in plastic manufacturing, since it is added to plastic to make it more rigid. It's used in clear, plastic water bottles, for example. It's also found in infant formula bottles.
Studies have suggested that's not a safe use, since the animal studies involving the chemical have linked it to changes in body chemistry, and in some cases to increased cancer risk.
At present, the FDA's position is that the levels of BPA in products used by both adults and children are not high enough to cause a health risk in humans. In taking issue with that position, the panel said the FDA does not have an adequate number of infant formula samples and relies too heavily on averages, rather than accounting for variability in the samples.
It also noted that new research on BPA in adult humans and animals was published after the FDA draft report, but was not included in the final report. It took issue with the margins of safety for BPA exposure cited by the agency, as being inadequate.
The FDA, at the time, said the advisory panel "raised important questions" and said the whole issue needs more study.
