What the Chemical Industry Doesn't Want You to Know about Everyday Products

[Guest guest]

What the Chemical Industry Doesn't Want You to Know about Everyday Products

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The global chemical industry annually produces about 6 billion pounds of

bisphenol A (BPA), an integral component of a vast array of plastic products,

generating at least $6 billion in annual sales. The value of BPA-based

manufactured goods is probably incalculable. Environmental Working Group studies

have

found BPA in more than half the canned foods and beverages sampled from

supermarkets across the U.S.

Soon after scientists Frederick Vom Saal and Wade Welshons found the first

hard evidence that miniscule amounts of BPA caused irreversible changes in the

prostates of fetal mice, a scientist from Dow Chemical Company showed up at

the Missouri lab. He disputed the data and declared, as Vom Saal recalls, " We

want you to know how distressed we are by your research. "

" It was not a subtle threat, " Vom Saal says. " It was really, really clear,

and we ended up saying, threatening us is really not a good idea. "

The Missouri scientists redoubled their investigations of BPA. Industry

officials and scientist allies fired back, sometimes in nose-to-nose debates at

scientific gatherings, sometimes more insidiously. " I heard [chemical industry

officials] were making blatantly false statements about our research, " says

Welshons. " They were skilled at creating doubt when none existed. "

The industry's increasingly noisy denials backfired. By the turn of the

millennium, dozens of scientists were launching their own investigations of the

chemical. But the chemical industry can be expected to fight aggressively

against more regulation. Earlier this year, the industry spent hundreds of

thousands of dollars to defeat a California legislative proposal to ban BPA in

food

packaging. The Chemistry Council and allied companies and industry groups

hired an army of lobbyists. Tactics included an industry email to food banks

charging that a BPA ban would mean the end of distributions of canned goods for

the poor.

Sources:

 

* _AlterNet September 15, 2008_ (http://www.alternet.org/story/98809/)

 

 

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

 

I often point out just how powerful and influential the pharmaceutical

industry is. The global market for pharmaceuticals was worth more than $693

billion in 2007. But Big Pharma is easily dwarfed by the _global chemistry

industry_

(http://www.icis.com/icisconnectfolders/industrial_research/entry1817.asp\

x) , which lives somewhere in the $3 trillion-a-year-neighborhood.

About 6 billion pounds of Bisphenol A (BPA) is produced annually, generating

at least $6 billion in annual sales alone.

BPA – which mimicks the sex hormone estradiol -- is a building block for

polycarbonate plastics and tough epoxy resins. As I discussed earlier this

week,

BPA-containing plastic is so pervasive it shows up in many places you might

not have considered, such as _in the linings of canned goods_

(http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/10/07/68119.aspx) ,

where it leaches

into your food and drink.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) found BPA in more than half of the

canned foods and beverages sampled from supermarkets across the U.S.

Cans of infant formula have been shown to be some of the worst offenders;

just one to three servings can contain BPA levels that have caused serious

adverse effects in animal tests.

Dow Chemical – Roughnecks in Suits

As described in the article above, chemical companies like Dow are not above

using threats and forceful intimidation when plain money doesn’t do the job.

(Monsanto’s ruthless “seed police†are another giant swinging a big club,

with a reputation for _suing small farmers_

(http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/09/27/66688.aspx) out

of their homesteads.)

But this is not the first time Dow Chemical’s less than ethical tactics have

been exposed.

_The International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal_

(http://www.boston4bhopal.org/writefax_pune2.php) has tried to get Dow to own

up to its _poisoning of

the village of Bhopal_ (http://www.bhopal.net/poisoning.html) for over two

decades, and accuses the multinational of using strong-arm tactics to

intimidate the habitants of Shinde Vasuli into submission to build another

chemical

experimentation facility near their Indian village.

In 2002, Dow Chemical interrupted internet use for thousands, and closed

down hundreds of unrelated websites after intimidating Verio into _shutting

down the ISP of a critical parody website_

(http://www.tenant.net/pipermail/hkonline/2002-December/000356.html) .

And more recently, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) forced Mary

Gade to _quit her job as head of the EPA’s Midwest office after her

interactions

with Dow Chemical_ (http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/02/8667) .

Gade had been locked in a heated dispute with Dow about long-delayed plans to

clean up dioxin-saturated soil that extends 50 miles beyond its Midland,

Michigan plant. The company had been dumping the highly toxic and persistent

chemical into local rivers for most of the last century.

In an interview on May 1, 2008, Gade said of her forced resignation:

" There's no question this is about Dow. I stand behind what I did and what my

staff

did. I'm proud of what we did. "

These examples are just a few drops in a very large bucket.

BPA and Your Immune System

That low-level exposure to BPA can be hazardous to your health has been

established (but hotly debated and denied by industry) for over 10 years.

It’s

just now reaching the tipping point.

According to Washington State University reproductive scientist Patricia

Hunt, “exposure to low levels of BPA -- levels that we think are in the realm

of

current human exposure -- can profoundly affect both developing eggs and

sperm.â€

But fetuses and infants are not the only ones at risk. Researchers are also

finding that BPA exposure can affect adults.

A study published in the _Environmental Health Perspectives_

(http://www.ehponline.org/members/2008/10829/10829.html) in April 2008,

discovered that BPA

promotes the development of Th2 cells in adulthood, and both Th1 and Th2

cells in prenatal stages, by reducing the number of regulatory T cells.

This could have a profound effect on your health as Th1 and Th2 are the two “

attack modes†of your immune system.

Based on the type of invader, your immune system activates either Th1 or Th2

cells to get rid of the pathogen. Th1 (T Helper 1) attacks organisms that

get inside your cells, whereas Th2 (T Helper 2) goes after extracellular

pathogens; organisms that are found outside the cells in your blood and other

body

fluids.

When your Th2 are over-activated, your immune system will over-respond to

toxins, allergens, normal bacteria and parasites, and under-respond to viruses,

yeast, cancer, and intracellular bacteria, because as one system activates,

the other is blocked.

FDA Favors Industry Science… Again!

Pressured by a growing number of health and consumer advocates, lawmakers

and scientists, an FDA advisory panel met on September 15th to decide whether

BPA should be reassessed in terms of food safety. If the answer had been yes,

it could have put an end to BPA-laced food packaging.

It was not.

True to form, the U.S. FDA upheld their decision that BPA is safe and can

remain in food packaging, including infant formula containers and baby bottles,

despite the more than 100 independent studies linking the chemical to

serious disorders in humans, including:

* Prostate cancer

* Breast cancer

* Diabetes

* Early puberty

* Obesity, and

* Learning and behavioral problems

The _Scientists & Engineers For America Action Fund_

(http://sefora.org/2008/09/16/fda-favors-industry-science-on-bpa/) Website said

about the verdict:

 

The agency based their decision on two large multigenerational studies

funded by the American Plastics Council (part of the American Chemistry

Council)

and the Society of the Plastics Industry.

As for the large body of literature on low dose effects of BPA that

originally raised concerns about the chemical’s ability to disrupt

reproductive,

neurological and metabolic development and function at levels of exposure

within

the range found in humans, the FDA broadly found these studies to be

inadequate or of limited utility in evaluating safety.

By relying solely on the industry-funded studies, the agency reaffirmed the

trade associations’ ability to control what is considered to be reliable,

credible science.

Where to Find BPA-Free Products

Clearly our regulators are either asleep at the wheel, or too busy planning

how not to lose their hard earned bribes in a _crashing stock market_

(http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/09/30/who-predicted-u-s\

-econo

mic-collapse-one-year-ago.aspx) .

Fortunately, some companies are taking note of consumer demand and are

increasingly offering products that don‘t contain BPA.

Personally, I too am doing everything I can to avoid this menacing chemical,

and will be offering glass water bottles for sale later this year. (They

have neoprene sleeves to protect them from breaking.) Glass is the safest and

most inert way to store your water, and far better than ANY plastic.

Here are several other resources where you can buy various types of

BPA-free products:

* Amazon.com‘s _BPA-free section_

(http://www.amazon.com/tag/bpa-free/products) lists water bottles, baby

bottles, and sippy cups.

* Rubbermaid says that some of its food storage containers and water

bottles _contain BPA_ (http://www.rubbermaid.com/rubbermaid/bpa-info.jhtml#bpa)

, while _others do not_

(http://www.rubbermaid.com/rubbermaid/bpa-info.jhtml#nobpa) .

* Nalgene _now offers_ (http://www.nalgenechoice.com/) BPA-free water

bottles.

* Brita, which makes water filtration products, says that its pitchers

and filters _don‘t contain BPA_ (http://www.brita.com/index_us.html) .

* SC Johnson, which makes Saran brand wraps and Ziploc bags and

containers, says that it _doesn‘t use BPA_

(http://www.saranbrands.com/faq.asp#1)

in its products.

* The Children‘s Health Environmental Coalition offers tips for _how to

spot plastic household products_

(http://www.checnet.org/healtheHouse/pdf/plasticchart.pdf) with and without

BPA.

* Consumer Reports _describes its BPA test results_

(http://blogs.consumerreports.org/baby/2008/03/qa-baby-bottles.html) and

provides advice on

choosing safe plastics.

* The Z Recommends blog posted an updated guide in February that _lists

children‘s feeding products_

(http://zrecs.blogspot.com/2008/02/z-report-on-bpa-in-infant-care-products.html)

that don‘t contain BPA.

* BPA-free products have _even appeared on eBay_

(http://tinyurl.com/5zcj4m) .

 

Related Articles:

 

_Nalgene Bottles Pulled From Shelves_

(http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/01/15/nalgene-bottles-p\

ulled-from-shelves.aspx)

 

_Toxic Compounds in Food Containers Wreak Havoc on Your Health_

(http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2005/06/14/food-containers.a\

spx)

 

_Don't Put Your Coffee in Plastic Cups_

(http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/02/23/don-t-put-your-co\

ffee-in-plastic-bottles.aspx)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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