UPDATED News the Chemical Companies Don't Want You to Hear
[UPDATE AT END]
My Suspicious, eh? button was pressed when I heard such good corporate citizens as Dow, Bayer and Hexion Specialty Chemicals were fighting to suppress government regulations on one of their very profitable chemicals. They just might succeed, since their lobbyists are making sure the government (Health & Human Services) sees mostly industry-funded research.
The stuff is BPA and is rife in plastic baby bottles, plastic-lined cans of food and lots of other plastic products like toys and sippy cups. In the studies not funded by the chemical companies, BPA is shown to have mucho bad impact on test animals; stuff like diabetes, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, male reproductive problems, obesity, and behavioral changes stemming from imbalances in the endocrine systems. Its worst effects are on babies in the womb and those recently emerged therefrom.
And - surprise! - "Other studies – mostly funded by the chemical industry – have claimed little or no effect of BPA." Or how about, "Several university scientists have accused the government-appointed panel of favoring chemical industry studies that have found no harmful effects of BPA."
Thus the Suspicious, eh? button punch. But we don't have to wait on what W's man Secretary Mike Leavitt says; we can take action on our own
I sent this message to my children with children after reading an excellent Dallas Morning News investigative piece:
RE: Plastic Poisons
I still haven't learned how to know if a given plastic has BPA in it other than "semi-transparent" and "hard." (Do you recognise polycarbonate plastic when you see it?) I'm working on finding out. You can bet the chemical and plastic makers are not labeling the stuff "bad for your bod!"
UPDATE: Learn more about BPA in this Wikipedia post.
My Suspicious, eh? button was pressed when I heard such good corporate citizens as Dow, Bayer and Hexion Specialty Chemicals were fighting to suppress government regulations on one of their very profitable chemicals. They just might succeed, since their lobbyists are making sure the government (Health & Human Services) sees mostly industry-funded research.
The stuff is BPA and is rife in plastic baby bottles, plastic-lined cans of food and lots of other plastic products like toys and sippy cups. In the studies not funded by the chemical companies, BPA is shown to have mucho bad impact on test animals; stuff like diabetes, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, male reproductive problems, obesity, and behavioral changes stemming from imbalances in the endocrine systems. Its worst effects are on babies in the womb and those recently emerged therefrom.
And - surprise! - "Other studies – mostly funded by the chemical industry – have claimed little or no effect of BPA." Or how about, "Several university scientists have accused the government-appointed panel of favoring chemical industry studies that have found no harmful effects of BPA."
Thus the Suspicious, eh? button punch. But we don't have to wait on what W's man Secretary Mike Leavitt says; we can take action on our own
I sent this message to my children with children after reading an excellent Dallas Morning News investigative piece:
RE: Plastic Poisons
Chilluns
The good old Dallas Morning News has done the best job investigating this scary thing. For (grandkid’s) sake - and your own - I’d suggest making sure all of the plastic food/drink containers you use are BPA free. I’m still not clear how one ascertains this, so we are moving strongly to glass until we figure it out.
I still haven't learned how to know if a given plastic has BPA in it other than "semi-transparent" and "hard." (Do you recognise polycarbonate plastic when you see it?) I'm working on finding out. You can bet the chemical and plastic makers are not labeling the stuff "bad for your bod!"
UPDATE: Learn more about BPA in this Wikipedia post.
Comments