Center for Progressive Reform

To Protect the Public, FDA Should Go Beyond Industry's Petition on BPA

by Aimee Simpson

CPR Member Scholar Noah Sachs and I submitted comments yesterday to FDA regarding the American Chemistry Council’s (ACC) petition to the agency on BPA. In September, the ACC petitioned FDA to remove approval for the use of BPA in “infant feeding bottles and certain spill-proof cups” (Rena Steinzor and I explained at the time the story behind the seemingly counter-intuitive move).

In our comments this week, we advocate for FDA to utilize its full rulemaking authority and take broader regulatory action to protect the public against BPA. Specifically, we propose:

Issuing new regulations encompassing the ACC’s Petition and Rep. Edward Markey’s March 16, 2012 Petitions concerning abandoned uses;
Banning a much broader range of BPA uses without reference to age limits or target consumers; and
Mandating labeling of BPA in all food contact materials.

As we explain in the comments, convincing scientific evidence supports these broader measures because of the demonstrated low-dose effects of BPA and other endocrine disrupting chemicals. These low-dose effects are not properly accounted for in current risk assessments of BPA and it is the role of FDA to act on behalf of all consumers' safety.