Industry Will Pay Big Bucks for Pregnant Women Willing to Ingest BPA

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Industry Will Pay Big Bucks for Pregnant Women Willing to Ingest BPA

Janelle Sorensen

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Pregnant? Looking for a way to make some extra money? Comfortable eating and drinking from packaging coated with BPA resins to demonstrate how safe it is? (Note: you must also be willing to sign a waiver releasing industry from liability should your baby suffer from any birth defects or other harm.)

Interested? Can you believe this?

BPA proponents are sinking to new levels. And, while they have wisely selected the most powerful audience of consumers - moms - they also seem to be oblivious to how connected we’ve become as a community. These types of shenanigans just aren’t cutting it anymore.

Memo to BPA industry lobbyists and marketers: Parents pushed major retailers to stop selling baby bottles that contained BPA. Parents are pushing legislators in cities, counties and states to ban BPA from all kids’ products. Parents are firmly behind the Ban Poisonous Additives Bill recently introduced in Congress.

WE DON’T WANT YOUR BPA! QUIT TRYING TO SELL IT TO US!

Still, instead of investing money in finding safer alternatives, industry groups are ready to pour $500,000 into a new PR plan that sounds more like a devious plot. The cat's out of the bag and the Washington Post was the first to expose the secret scheming:

According to internal notes of a private meeting, obtained by The Washington Post, frustrated industry executives huddled for hours Thursday trying to figure out how to tamp down public concerns over the chemical bisphenol A, or BPA. The notes said the executives are particularly concerned about the views of young mothers, who often make purchasing decisions for households and who are most likely to be focused on health concerns.

Industry representatives weighed a range of ideas, including "using fear tactics [e.g. "Do you want to have access to baby food anymore?" as well as giving control back to consumers (e.g. you have a choice between the more expensive product that is frozen or fresh or foods packaged in cans) as ways to dissuade people from choosing BPA-free packaging," the notes said.

The attendees estimated it would cost $500,000 to craft a message for a public relations campaign, according to the notes. "Their 'holy grail' spokesperson would be a 'pregnant young mother who would be willing to speak around the country about the benefits of BPA,' " the notes said.

As you can imagine, this isn’t going over so well with moms. The blogosphere has begun a murmur that could quickly become a roar. Jennifer Taggart (aka The Smart Mama), who brought the issue to my attention (thanks Jennifer!) writes about her anger and captures what some other mommy bloggers are feeling:

Let's raise our voices, moms! We got BPA out of most baby bottles. Let's tell the industry enough is enough. Don't try to fool us - do something proactive instead. Find a solution.

Are you ready to join us? Speaking out, my friend Sommer from Green and Clean Mom says "Talk to the Hand". She's got a plethora of Tweets about what we think about the industry's back door meeting. But I love how she points out the irony that companies love mommy bloggers when they want us to sell something and be brand evangelists, but that we are hysterical and just don't understand the science when we question product safety or environmental standards.

SafeMama says manufacturers are getting scared because we are smart. We educated ourselves about the hazards of BPA, and are seeking alternatives and demanding legislation.

Jenn Savedge (author of The Green Parent and the just released The Green Teen) at Mother Nature Network urges us to prove industry wrong.

And my friend Alicia from The Soft Landing (with a fabulous online store of BPA free items, among other things) asks who are the fear mongers now? After accusing us of being fear mongers, the industry representatives have decided to turn the tables to encourage their primary customers, women between 21 and 35, to stick with canned foods. And she cries foul.

More blogs joining the uproar:
• Non-toxic Kids says “This is so offensive, on so many levels, I don't even know where to start. These companies are resorting to the lowest strategies and tactics to continue to sell their products, no matter the mounting research about the health consequences of exposure to BPA.”
• Consumer Reports writes “We have repeatedly called for BPA to be banned from food and beverage containers, and for the government to take immediate action to protect infants and children from BPA exposure. Some manufacturers and retailers have already begun removing BPA from their products. We hope that more will follow that example rather than relying on cynical public relations gimmicks.”
• Tiffany Washko at Nature Moms says “Ugh. Instead of trying to come up with safe ways to serve food they would rather spend money on pulling the wool over our eyes or using the political system to give us no choice in the matter. Moms everywhere need to be prepared for a battle over BPA. We need to continue to let our legislators know that human safety comes BEFORE profit.

Of course, industry is trying to deny the whole thing. Who are you going to believe? Do you think the battle over BPA will ever end?

Posted by Plast-Tech Coatings on 08/05/2009 at 09:36 AM

I don’t know which aspect of this story is the most disturbing:

A) Going through the effort to ask people to take this “leap of faith” - oh, and sign a release.

B) Anticipating that some expectant mothers may take them up on this.

We live in a sad world.

Posted by Jean on 07/20/2009 at 04:07 PM

This is the second half of the letter from Amy’s foods to me, in response to my complaint about their canned goods having bisphenol A in the lining…
————————————————-
In an April 19, 2008 Vancouver Sun article, the Canadian Health Minister outlined the Canadian position on banning BPA based products in baby bottles: “The government announced Friday that Canada will be the first country to ban plastic baby bottles with bisphenol A after concluding the chemical is toxic.”

Health Minister Tony Clement unveiled the ``precautionary and prudent’’ move while trying to calm fears with a limited ban of the widely used chemical, also found in hard plastic sports bottles and tin cans of food and infant formula. Most Canadians ``need not be concerned’’ about the health effects of bisphenol A, but Clement said ``this is not the case for newborns and infants.’‘

``We have concluded that early development is sensitive to the effects of bisphenol A,’’ Clement, joined by Environment Minister John Baird, told an audience that included new mothers and their babies. ``Although our science tells us that exposure levels to newborns and
infants are below the levels that cause effects, we believe that the current safety margin needs to be higher. We have concluded that it is better to be safe than sorry.’‘

The main source of exposure for babies is through migration of bisphenol A from boiling water poured into polycarbonate baby bottles and from can linings into liquid infant formula.

So the Canadian Health Minister has focused their concern on baby bottles, and said that most Canadians need not be concerned the health affects of BPA.

But, Amy’s still is guided by the interests of our customers, and we are intensifying our efforts to find new can coatings.

Best regards,

Carol Tamagni
Consumer Relations

Posted by Jean on 07/20/2009 at 04:04 PM

This is the letter I got back from Amy’s, after asking if they have bisphenol-A in their canned goods…. I had to split it into two posts because it was long…
———————————
Thanks for your email. Amy’s is a family-owned company. Everything we offer is made from start to finish by our own people. We do everything possible to make our products as natural, safe and high in quality as possible.

We are concerned when we hear questions about epoxy coatings in our cans that may contain extremely low levels of BPA. Traditionally, the coatings have been used to prevent the food from contacting the metal container, thus preventing off flavors, container corrosion, and product contamination with metals. The presence of epoxy/BPA is limited to our canned products only.

Some time ago, Amy’s decided to change our can coatings, and communicated this to our can suppliers. While we have been assured about the safety of the current coatings, we are actively searching for alternatives. The container manufacturers, and other canned food
companies, are also committed to this. They and Amy’s are investing considerable time and resources towards our common goal.

Alternatives for plastic baby bottles already existed, and those products were switched quickly. Unfortunately, no new alternatives were available for can coatings.

We are doing storage testing to determine if we could safely replace the coating with other coatings, or whether we could eliminate it completely on some products. These storage studies take a number of months to get results. We are actively evaluating any coating or container that might give our customers a greater degree of comfort.

As of April 2009, we have already conducted a range of product storage tests and will be starting more. We are hoping to be able to switch at least some of our products to the new coatings in 2010. Although we would have hoped to do this sooner, we have to work within the
limitations of commercial availability of new coatings. And we can’t take the chance that improperly tested coatings might cause a whole range of problems with regard to product safety and stability. The epoxy coatings have been used for decades and it is taking a while to
develop, test and approve the alternatives. The complexity of the testing is high for Amy’s because of our broad range of canned products.

There have been 100’s or thousands of scientific articles and studies on the safety of Bisphenol A (BPA), as used in epoxy can linings throughout the world. The studies are often contradictory, as often happens with scientific studies.

When world food safety authorities decide on regulatory action, they take into account all the studies to draw conclusions. As a result, some countries have taken steps requiring baby bottles and sippy cups be converted to other packaging, and fortunately other plastics and glass
were already available to fill this need. But, no countries (EU, Japan, Australia/New Zealand, US) have concluded that they need to regulate the current can coatings in products such as soups.

The European Food Safety Authority has completed an important review of all the 200 new BPA studies since 2002 and concluded:

“Is it legally permitted for use in food contact materials in the EU? Yes. BPA is permitted for use in food contact materials in the European Union [1]. It is also permitted for food contact use in other countries such as the USA and Japan.”

“What has the Panel concluded? The Panel has concluded that the setting of a full rather than a temporary Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI) is now appropriate, following an extensive review of all available data. People’s dietary exposure to BPA, including that of infants and children, is well below the new TDI.”

The European Food Safety Authority answers questions on the subject at: http://www.efsa.europa.eu/EFSA/efsa_locale-1178620753812_BisphenolAFAQs.htm

An Explanation of the European Food Safety Authority’s independent role in studying and issuing food safety opinions is at: http://www.efsa.europa.eu/EFSA/efsa_locale-1178620753812_AboutEfsa.htm
————————-
see next post for the rest of the letter….

Posted by Wedding Gown on 06/18/2009 at 12:19 PM

The crazy thing is, there are no laws that make this illegal! The FDA is still relying on industry-funded studies to claim that BPA is safe. PLEASE! Moms are too smart to fall for this. I will be calling all the canned food companies I buy from and asking if their products are packaged in TOXIC BPA! It comes down to marketing and not consumer safety or health. Sad but true and the only way we can say enough is enough is to use the wallet. Money talks but add up all of our dimes and nickels ladies and we have a big wave! Even though it’s not illegal, it’s definitely *unethical* and no Institutional Review Board should have ever approved it!

Posted by Wynn on 06/14/2009 at 05:03 PM

You heard it here first. BPA will eventually be linked to autism via the mothers (or fathers) exposure to this dangerous chemical which particularly binds to estrogen. Scientific studies with mice show genetic brain changes in newborn mice from parental (especially female mice) exposure to BPA. Autism is genetic, and the very possibility of BPA exposure from the parents lifestyle makes this a real concern. The rise in autistic born children may just coincide with the rise in plastic usage (especially in the 80’s to present).

Posted by Brenna on 06/04/2009 at 07:11 AM

I do think the battle over BPA will end IF we continue to push the FDA and the industry that uses it to make changes. There are so many examples of women, moms, fighting for something they believe in and creating a real difference. This smacks of so many past issues, DDT, big tobacco, PCBs, an on that have used fear tactics and faulty science to attempt to manipulate us into complacency. We are too smart to fall for this and we have to prove it now!

Posted by Dawn on 06/03/2009 at 07:19 AM

I believe this is only the tip of the iceberg, unfortunately. While there are so many people out there fighting for what’s right, there are still so many others fighting for what’s wrong.

When will people who fight against environmental causes realize that they are only hurting themselves in the process? I don’t know, but until this culture of ignorance and apathy changes, we’re in for a long uphill battle to save the planet and all living things.

If only every human being could live by the quote that Seventh Generation has on its product labels: “In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.” ~ From the Great Law of The Iroquois Confederacy

Parents have a lot of consumer power and need to start using it to send companies a strong message that hurting the environment will no longer be tolerated. Spend your money wisely, people! It’s the choices you make every day that will change the world.

Posted by lynn from organicmania.com on 06/03/2009 at 06:53 AM

I do think the BPA battle will end, but I think it is just one of many that are brewing over major issues such as the safety of our food supply and the inclusion of untested chemicals in personal care products. This is directly related to the issues raised in the Toxic Tub Report by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and the Kid Safe Chemical Act now making its way through Congress.

I would love to know who leaked the notes. Was it a young, pregnant PR staffer, or someone from Coca Cola’s sustainability team? Was it someone else all together?
It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

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