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

[Guest guest]

Let the people do what they want, you get Woodstock. Let the government do what it wants, you get WACO!....Mary.

 

 

 

 

 

Teresa binstock <binstock (AT) peakpeak (DOT) com>

October 11, 2008 7:32:19 AM PDT

EarthFirstAlert

[EF!] bpa: What the Chemical Industry Doesn't Want You to Know about Everyday Products - !!!

earthfirstalert

 

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

 

J Mercola, M.D.

http://articles. mercola.com/ sites/articles/ archive/2008/ 10/11/what- the-chemical- industry- doesn-t-want- you-to-know- about-everyday- products. aspx

<http://articles. mercola.com/ sites/articles/ archive/2008/ 10/11/what- the-chemical- industry- doesn-t-want- you-to-know- about-everyday- products. aspx>

 

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:

http://www.alternet .org/story/ 98809

* AlterNet September 15, 2008 <http://www.alternet .org/story/ 98809/>

 

 

Mercola 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, 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, 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 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 has tried to get Dow to

own up to its poisoning of the village of Bhopal 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.

 

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. 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."

 

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 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 Website said about

the verdict:

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

 

/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.

 

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 lists water bottles, baby

bottles, and sippy cups.

* Rubbermaid says that some of its food storage containers and

water bottles contain BPA, while others do not.

* Nalgene now offers BPA-free water bottles.

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

pitchers and filters don't contain BPA.

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

containers, says that it doesn't use BPA in its products.

* The Children's Health Environmental Coalition offers tips for

how to spot plastic household products with and without BPA.

* Consumer Reports describes its BPA test results and provides

advice on choosing safe plastics.

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

lists children's feeding products that don't contain BPA.

* BPA-free products have even appeared on eBay.

 

 

 

 

 

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