The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has until the end of March to decide whether it should ban the controversial chemical Bisphenol-A (BPA) from food and drink packaging.
The chemical, pervasive in a range of everyday products such as food can linings, water bottles and receipt paper, mimics estrogen and has raised concerns in recent years after studies linked BPA to several negative health impacts, such as reproductive problems and abnormal brain development.
The decision is part of a settlement reached with the Natural Resource Defense Council, which sued the agency in 2010 after getting no response to a 2008 petition asking for a ban on BPA in any material that comes into contact with food.
"While we are glad FDA is finally going to make a decision BPA in food packaging and this is a major step forward in the legal process, it is discouraging that FDA has not responded and that we had to ask the court to intervene just to get FDA to do its job," the NRDC's Sarah Janssen said in a blog today. "The agency has been dragging its feet on making a decision about BPA for far too long."
The safety of BPA has been a matter of great debate for years, but in 2010, the FDA acknowledged that studies caused "reason for some concern about the potential effects of BPA on the brain, behavior and prostate gland of fetuses, infants and children."
BPA has already been phased out of baby bottles, according to the American Chemical Council, largely due to consumer demand. Eleven states, including California, New York and Maryland, have passed laws banning BPA from baby drink containers. China, Malaysia and Canada are among the countries that have outlawed BPA.
BPA is present in 90 percent of U.S. and Canadian citizens, according to studies, albeit often at low levels.
Still, some food manufacturers have moved away from BPA in response to consumer concerns, including General Mills, which has completed the transition of its Muir Glen tomato products to BPA-free packaging.
Can image via Shutterstock.
Yayyyyh!!! Good for
Yayyyyh!!! Good for General Mills! NO MORE BPA!!!!
--Cancer Survivor
As far as alternatives to
As far as alternatives to preserved food packaging...I would love to see more food stored in glass jars. Wouldn't it be great if we could just take them back to the grocery store and the distributors could pick them up to reuse, when they drop off new jars filled with food? Safer food, less waste, reduced material extraction. I must be stark raving mad.
A Danish friend of mine said that unless they bring their own containers to the store, they have to pay for a container when they go to buy sour cream, yogurt, pickles..etc. It makes sense to me that the individuals using the most resources and creating waste somehow pay for the impact that we all, as citizens, have to bear.
Also you could see what the food inside looks like and whether it is worth purchasing.
My understanding was there
My understanding was there was no alternative to BPA for tomatoes (but there was for everything else) because of the high acidity. (Although Pomi packs their tomatoes in BPA-free aseptic packaging.) Has that changed? I'm referring to General Mills.