Yesterday, the FDA rejected a petition by environmental groups to ban BPA (Bisphenol A) from food packaging. The organic compound is used as a hardening agent in plastics, though has been found to leach into the products it contains. This leaching is exacerbated in direct contact with sunlight, and has led many to switch from purchasing water in plastic bottles to purchasing glass and metal containers with less risk and a longer product lifespan.
BPA tends to break down under environmental wear, forming compounds that become processed as estrogen in living organisms.
Bloomberg Businessweek reports on the FDA ruling:
About 90 percent of Americans have traces of BPA in their bodies, mainly because it leaches out of bottles, canned food and other food containers.
Some scientists believe exposure to BPA can harm the reproductive and nervous systems, particularly in babies and small children, potentially leading to cancer and other diseases. They point to results from dozens of BPA studies in rodents and other animals.
But FDA reiterated in its response that that those findings cannot be applied to humans. The agency said the studies cited by NRDC were often too small to be conclusive. In other cases they involved researchers injecting BPA into animals, whereas humans ingest the chemical through their diet over longer periods of time. The agency also said that humans digest and eliminate BPA much more quickly than rats and other lab animals.
Avoiding plastics is difficult in a throw-away society, but there are a few alternatives for the determined and resourceful. And public standards are changing, as scientific findings are met with mandates for new social and environmental standards.
This decision by the FDA comes as no surprise, given its acknowledged history of corruption and collusion with chemical companies.
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