CALIFORNIA may ban bisphenol A, a chemical found in some plastic food packaging and bottles, from products intended for young children. The proposed bill, introduced by assemblywoman Wilma Chan, was scheduled to be debated on Tuesday. If passed, it will be the first ban of its kind in the world.
Over 2 million tonnes of polycarbonate plastics are produced worldwide every year. The plastics consist of chains of bisphenol A. As they break down, BPA slowly leaches out.
鈥淭he chemical may cause early sexual maturity, low sperm count and hyperactivity鈥�
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A paper to be published in Environmental Health Perspectives (DOI: 10.1289/ehp.7713) claims there is growing evidence that BPA can affect development because of its similarity to the hormone oestrogen. Of 115 animal studies of low doses of BPA, 94 report significant effects. These experiments suggest it can cause everything from early sexual maturity in females and low sperm count to hyperactivity and loss of sex-related differences in behaviour 鈥� and at doses lower than those most people are exposed to.
Steven Hentges of the American Plastics Council says that a number of recent scientific reviews, including one by the European Commission in 2003, concluded that BPA is safe. But one of the authors of the upcoming paper, Frederick vom Saal of the University of Missouri in Columbia, says that most of the relevant research has been done recently and was not included in any of the scientific reviews.
