PUBLISHER letter

Friends:
Many of you may remember the article / expose we ran in the August 2008
issue of Natural Triad regarding the health risks of bisphenol A (BPA). That article
was one of the most popular ever run in this magazine. It also garnered some strong
opposition in opinion from several in the chemical industry. At the time, we were
stepping out in disagreement with the FDA's ruling that BPA is safe. In fact, The
FDA had long maintained that BPA is safe, relying largely on two studies. And who
paid for those two studies? The chemical industry! The FDA was faulted by its own
panel of independent science advisers in 2008, who said its position on BPA was flawed because it ignored more than 100
published studies by government scientists and university laboratories that raised health concerns about BPA.
As a refresher, BPA is an industrial chemical that is present in many hard plastic bottles and metal-based food and
beverage cans. Researchers have found that BPA leaches from containers into food and beverages, even at cold temperatures.
BPA is so prevalent that more than 90 percent of the U.S. population has traces of it in its urine, according to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention. When ingested, BPA mimics estrogen. As Winston-Salem's Jillian Sarno Teta, ND, states,
"Bisphenol A acts like a hormone without actually being a hormone, so it can trick your body into thinking estrogen is there.
It specifically targets the reproductive and neurological systems". Growing scientific evidence has linked the chemical to a
range of problems, from cancer to sexual dysfunction to heart disease.
Dr. Teta also stated in 2008, "I think the FDA needs to step in and do an excessive risk assessment of this compound.
There's enough evidence out there in animal and human studies that this is something government needs to take a look at."
It looks like we may have gotten our wish. A couple of weeks ago, The Food and Drug Administration reversed its posi-
tion on the safety of bisphenol A (BPA), saying it now has concerns about health risks.
"We have some concern, which leads us to recommend reasonable steps the public can take to reduce exposure to BPA,"
Joshua Sharfstein, FDA's deputy commissioner, said. They include discarding scratched baby bottles and infant feeding cups
and not putting very hot liquid into bottles containing BPA while preparing them for a child. The drug agency also recom-
mended that mothers breast feed their infants for at least 12 months; liquid formula contains traces of BPA.
The FDA stopped short of banning the compound or requiring manufacturers to label products containing BPA, saying
current data are not clear enough to support a legal crackdown. Sharfstein said the agency is conducting "targeted" studies of
BPA, part of a two-year, $30 million effort to answer key questions about the chemical that will help determine what action, if
any, is necessary to protect public health.
The chemical industry, which produces more than 6 billion tons of BPA annually and has been fighting restrictions on its
use, said Friday's announcement was good news because the agency did not tell people to stop using products containing the
chemical. "The science continues to support the safety of BPA," said Steven Hentges of the American Chemistry Council.
Environmental groups, public-health advocates and consumer organizations, however, applauded the FDA for recogniz-
ing concern about BPA, but some said the agency didn't go far enough.
As it awaits additional research results, the FDA plans to change the way it classifies BPA so it can exercise tighter
controls over the chemical, Sharfstein said. Currently, BPA is approved as a "food additive," which means manufacturers are
not required to tell the government which products contain BPA and in what amounts. The agency wants to reclassify it as a
"food-contact material," which would require greater disclosure from manufacturers and would allow the FDA to take fast
action if it determined the material posed a health risk.
To learn more about BPA and how to avoid it, or to learn more about the classification of plastics, please visit
www.NaturalTriad.com/backissues.html then click on the August 2008 issue to download a copy. Or, just email us at
editor@naturaltriad.com and we will email you a pdf of the same article.
Until next month, thanks for reading. Stay safe and healthy,
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FEBRUARY 2010
5
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