Good Things #21

This is part of an article I read by Carrie Sturrock (The Oregonian) this morning...

It was surprising when the Oregon Senate defeated a bill last month to ban the chemical once and for all from the bottles and sippy cups sold here. Washington has done it. So has Minnesota, Connecticut and Maryland. The chemical has been linked to increased risk for breast and prostate cancer.

The Food and Drug Administration says this about BPA: "the National Toxicology Program at the National Institutes of Health and FDA have some concern about the potential effects of BPA on the brain, behavior, and prostate gland in fetuses, infants and young children."

Only recently did I realize that bottles and sippy cups are only part of the problem. Most of the canned food on supermarket shelves sits in a BPA lining. The food processing industry says it hasn't found a low-cost alternative. So I have ingested a lot of BPA over the years. And I know I've fed it to my kids.

But Michael Potter, owner of Eden Foods in Michigan, didn't want to wait after he learned about BPA. He asked the Ball Corporation more than a decade ago to make him a can with a BPA-free lining. Since 1999, he has sold all of his beans in BPA-free cans -- 33 products total. It costs more to do this -- a 7-percent increase in the product's price tag in a competitive environment where a half percent is significant. Granted, it's easier for Potter because he's in an organic market and his customers will pay more. Potter is even shifting to glass jars for some highly acidic food that have an extremely short shelf life in metal cans without the chemical.

Canning manufacturers are looking for BPA-free can linings, but that's a long process, said Erica Hagedorn, a lobbyist for the Northwest Food Processors Association. The current cans prevent spoiling, maintain quality and are cost-effective, she said. "What we're using now has the highest level of food safety and food protection," she said.

Meanwhile, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences has an ongoing $30 million, two-year study of BPA and its impact on human health. And the Oregon Environmental Council isn't giving up the fight, even after two years of making no headway in the Legislature. Last year they championed a bill to require the Oregon Department of Human Services to list chemicals of concern that children are exposed to and disclosure if products contained them. This year they asked for the BPA ban in bottles and cups. The environmental council plans to return with yet another bill.

Eliminating BPA from can linings is also a goal, said Renee Hackenmiller-Paradis of the environmental council. Her advice until then: avoid food from BPA-lined cans, especially women of child-bearing years; frozen or Tetra pak boxed food is much better; fresh is best.

The council is also studying non-legislative ways to ban the chemical from certain products, possibly by tapping the Oregon Department of Human Services, which has the authority to ban chemicals with acute health impacts, Hackenmiller-Paradis said. The council will also work with Head Start and hospitals to ensure the bottles they provide don't contain BPA.