Let’s get BPA out of food contact items; find out how at #ecowed

Come tweet with us for #ecowed on Wednesday, May 5, 2010 from 10 to 11 pm Eastern and learn what you can do to get bisphenol A (BPA) banned in food contact products at the federal level. 3 Green Angels is hosting an #ecowed party for the Breast Cancer Fund, a national non profit working to expose and eliminate the environmental causes of breast cancer. And we’re talking BPA. So follow @3greenangels, as well as @breastcancerfnd and use the hashtag #ecowed.

BPA is a synthetic estrogen. It is used in polycarbonate plastic, often used to make baby bottles and sports water bottles, and also used in the epoxy linings of food and drink cans. Unfortunately, BPA doesn’t stay put and leaches into foods and beverages. In more than 200 worldwide studies, very low levels of BPA exposure have been linked to breast and prostate cancer, cardiac disease, obesity, diabetes, lowered sperm counts and early puberty. Want to check out the science? Here’s a link to abstracts of selected BPA studies.

We are exposed to BPA daily. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has found BPA in the bodies of 93% of Americans. It crosses the placental barrier in the womb, exposing newborn babies before they take their first breaths.  BPA is prevalent in consumer products, but lots of us have a hard time determing what to avoid.  

But growing consumer awareness has spurred government action. Five states, the city of Chicago and four counties in New York have joined Canada and Denmark in taking action to ban or restrict children’s exposure to BPA. Plus, leading manufacturers of baby bottles and sports water bottles have stopped using it, and major U.S. retailers have pulled BPA-laced products from their shelves. 

But legislation and regulation at the federal level has been slow. While the Food and Drug Administration now believes that BPA is of “some concern” for certain health effects (after years of arguing that BPA is perfectly safe), we haven’t seen any regulatory action to reduce or eliminate BPA exposure from food contact items. So, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif) and Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass) introduced the Ban Poisonous Additives Act into Congress. This bill would put an end to the use of BPA in food and beverage containers.

To get this bill passed, they are trying to include it in the Food Safety Modernization Act currently moving through the Senate. The Food Safety Modernization Act currently addresses external contaminants like E.coli and salmonella, but it doesn’t address packaging additives like BPA that leach from baby bottles, infant food packaging and cans.

The Breast Cancer Fund wants BPA addressed as a part of the food safety bill but the Grocery Manufacturers Association, Chamber of Commerce and American Chemistry Council (among others) are lobbying to keep it out. In fact, as the Senate prepares to take up the massive food safety reform bill, this vocal and powerful opposition is threatening to kill the bill if it includes ANY restrictions on toxic bisphenol A in food packaging and containers.  

The Breast Cancer Fund wants help sending a strong message to the Senate leadership – Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. ­– that BPA is an urgent food safety issue. So, in addition to participating in #ecowed on Wednesday, May 5, 2010 from 10 to 11 pm Eastern time, please send a message to your U.S. senators asking them to take two actions:

 • Sign on as a co-sponsor of  S. 593, Feinstein’s Ban Poisonous Additives Act.

 • Urge their party leaders, Sen. Reid and Sen. McConnell, to include the BPA Act in the food safety bill.

If you need help contacting your Senators and party leaders, check out this information on the US Senate. And we will tweet with you Wednesday.

Related posts:

1. #ecowed Party – Breastfeeding, engorgement, mastitis, OH MY!
2. #ecowed Twitter Party – Tweeting Toxicants with Earth Mama Angel Baby
3. Learn How to Soothe Queasy Morning Sickness Naturally for #ecowed