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Sunday, Apr 20, 2008
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Query on chemical in plastic bottles

Bisphenol A linked to precancerous changes in the prostate and breast

TORONTO: A chemical that is widely used in hard plastic water bottles, DVDs, CDs and hundreds of other common items has come under increased pressure after Canada said it was potentially harmful and may ban its use in baby bottles.

Health Canada made the announcement shortly after a U.S. company said it would stop selling hard-plastic Nalgene water bottles made with bisphenol A because of growing consumer concern over whether the chemical poses a health risk.

Earlier this week, the U.S. government’s National Toxicology Programme said that there was “some concern” about BPA from experiments on rats that linked the chemical to changes in behaviour and the brain, early puberty and possibly precancerous changes in the prostate and breast. While such animal studies only provide “limited evidence” of risk, the draft report said a possible effect on humans “cannot be dismissed.”

With more than six million pounds produced in the United States alone each year, bisphenol A is found in dental sealants, baby bottles, the liners of food cans, CDs and DVDs, eyeglasses and hundreds of household goods.

In Canada, Health Minister Tony Clement said a draft report on bisphenol A has found the chemical could endanger people — particularly newborns and infants — and the environment.

“To be prudent, the government of Canada is proposing to reduce bisphenol A exposure in infants and newborns by proposing a number of actions: to ban polycarbonate baby bottles; to develop stringent migration targets for bisphenol A in infant formula cans; to work with industry to develop alternative food packaging and develop a code of practice; and to list bisphenol A under Schedule 1 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.”

Ottawa is giving the public 60 days to comment on the report and Mr. Clement said it would ban its use in baby bottles if no new relevant information comes forward.

“It is our intention to ban the importation, the sale and advertising,” Mr. Clement said of its use in baby bottles. ‘Canada will be the first country in the world to take such action to limit exposures to bisphenol A.”

Earlier this week, Wal-Mart Canada and other retailers in Canada began removing BPA-based products from store shelves.

Highly durable and lightweight, resistant to stains and odours, and able to withstand extremes of hot and cold, screw-cap Nalgene bottles have been marketed as an environmentally responsible substitute for disposable water bottles.

Citing multiple studies in the U.S., Europe and Japan, the chemicals industry maintains that polycarbonate bottles contain little BPA and leach traces considered too low to harm humans.

But critics point to an influx of animal studies linking low doses to a wide variety of ailments — from breast and prostate cancer, obesity and hyperactivity, to miscarriages and other reproductive failures. — AP

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