FDA’s Chief Scientist Asks Science Board Subcommittee to Review Research on Bisphenol-A
Jun 6, 2008 Dangerous Baby Items
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 6, 2008 |
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FDA’s Chief Scientist Asks Science Board Subcommittee to Review Research on Bisphenol-A
As part of an ongoing effort, a subcommittee of the FDA’s Science Board will hold a public meeting on the safety of bisphenol-A (BPA) in plastics, review an Agency Task Force report on the topic, and deliver its findings to the Board’s annual meeting this fall.
Frank M. Torti, M.D., M.P.H., the FDA’s principal deputy commissioner and chief scientist, this week asked Science Board Chairwoman Barbara J. McNeil, M.D., Ph.D., head of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School, to establish a subcommittee to assess BPA, a substance used in some plastic baby bottles, food containers, and water bottles.
In April 2008, the FDA formed an agency-wide BPA Task Force to facilitate review of current research and new information on BPA. “The FDA Task Force is assembling an inventory of FDA-regulated products that contain BPA and we are exploring what is known about the safety of this substance in those products,” said Torti.
Following this review, the Task Force will make recommendations to Commissioner of Food and Drugs Andrew C. von Eschenbach, M.D.
The FDA has been reviewing emerging literature on BPA on a continuous basis for years and its Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition initiated a formal reexamination of the safety of BPA in early 2007. In April 2008, the National Toxicology Program (NTP) of the National Institutes of Health published a Draft Brief indicating that some studies in animals suggest that BPA may raise concerns for developmental effects in humans. The NTP is collecting public comments on the draft and has scheduled a June 11 peer review meeting for its Draft Brief.
In the Draft Brief, NTP stated that, based on animal studies, it had “some concern” for neural and behavioral effects in fetuses, infants, and children at current human exposures, and also had “some concern” for exposure in these populations based on effects in the prostate gland, mammary gland, and an earlier age for puberty in females.
In addition to the NTP’s Draft Brief on BPA, the FDA Task Force is reviewing available information on BPA in numerous other risk assessment documents from scientific and regulatory bodies worldwide.
For more information visit www.fda.gov
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Tags: BPA
June 9th, 2008 at 10:06 am
I’ve never commented here but have a question. I have been making my LO’s food and have been using my magic bullet/cuisinart food processor to puree everything. I just read that these products contain BPA. While I recognize the food is only in them briefly (while I am doing the puree, I then transfer the food to little mason jars), I would rather no BPA at all. Do you have any suggestions/alternatives?
THanks!
June 14th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
The only suggestion I have is the Oster Classic Beehive blender. The “basket” is glass. This thing really rocks! I cannot vouch for it doing purees well but the way it does it cubes should mean it’s great for pureeing baby foods too! A friend says it works great as a juicer. Only caveat is that it is LOUD and I mean like airplane-taking-off-in-your-driveway loud!
One thing to keep in mind is that leaching of BPA occurs when the plastic is heated or when boiling liquids are added to the plastic. At this point, I am not sure that the warm food temperature would be high enough to cause rapid leaching. Maybe someone out there will have more info but everything I have read indicates the temps. must be very high and/or the liquid/food must be sitting around in the container for a long period of time before significant leaching occurs. Many people allow foods to cool before they puree them and this is probably a good idea from a leaching standpoint.
Also, the scientific evidence seems to point to the risk being mostly from canned foods (cans are lined with polycarbonate and then hot processed foods are poured into them) and soda cans that are lined with polycarbonate. This addresses the “adult” population. We know that babies are most at risk from bottles that have been heated and also washed in the dishwasher; and most at risk due to their tiny fragile little developing bodies.
Another thing to note is that the leaching takes a period of time, and you would not want to fill a polycarbonate water bottle up in the morning and let it sit around all day. It’s “best” to drink it within a few hours. Of course it’s best to not use that type of water bottle at all
HTH
June 14th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
“it cubes” is actually ice cubes!