Very soon our elected officials in Sacramento will be voting on SB-1713, a bill by Sen. Carole Midgen to make Bisphenol A illegal in California. Bisphenol A is a toxic chemical used in the lining of food cans and baby bottles. It has been associated with obesity and breast cancer.
Please call Sen. Sheila Kuehl at 916.651.4023 and Assemblywoman Julia Brownley at 916.3190.2041 to insist that they vote “yes” on this important legislation, unless you are OK with obesity, diabetes and cancer. Let me be more specific.
* June 19, 2008, USA Today: U.S. babies who are formula-fed are shorter and heavier than World Health Organization standards. You can bet they will carry that extra weight into adulthood.
* March 5, 2007, Environmental Working Group: One in three cans of infant formula contains enough Bisphenol A to expose an infant to 200 TIMES the acceptable government-traditional safe level.
* Investigative study by Masumo, et al, 2002: Low doses of Bisphenol A increase both the formation and growth of fat cells that drive obesity in humans.
* Hundreds of recent studies have shown that the lowest doses of Bisphenol A can cause alteration of breast and prostate cells that precede cancer. (Breast cancer and prostate cancer diagnoses have both increased dramatically since the 1950’s, around the same time Bisphenol A was first introduced.)
* Six million pounds of Bisphenol A are produced in the United States annually.
Let’s make sure none of it is unleashed on the citizens of California. A dozen other states are currently considering bills similar to AB-1713.
Do not be fooled by the FDA’s recent announcement that Bisphenol A is “safe.” They relied on studies funded by the chemical industry to come to their conclusion, in advance of a September meeting where outside advisors will debate the safety of Bisphenol A. Could it be pressure from industry that bumped up the release of the FDA’s tainted preliminary re-evaluation just as many states will be voting on this issue?
Cindy Emminger