In the News

FDA to Review Safety of BPA

Jun 4, 2009

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it intends to review its previous determination that the small amounts of Bisphenol A (BPA) that may leach from packaging to food presents no health risks to humans. This declaration comes on the heels of a letter from House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman, Henry Waxman, and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman, Bart Stupak, to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg that the Agency reevaluate its position that current levels of exposure to BPA for adults and infants are safe. In the letter, the Chairmen ask FDA to reconsider this conclusion "in light of longstanding questions about the scientific data relied on by FDA under the previous Administration, as well as new press accounts detailing the influence of industry lobbyists on FDA's scientific analyses."

The Chairmen also issued a document request to the North American Metal Packaging Alliance (NAMPA), which represents the food and beverage light metal packaging industry. Through its request, the Chairmen are seeking "all documents and communications" relating to meetings of the BPA Joint Trade Association held during April and May 2009, a list of attendees at the meetings and their affiliations, and a list of members of the Association. The Washington Post and Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel both reported on a recent meeting of the BPA Joint Trade Association held in Washington, D.C., purportedly to discuss how to deal with the ongoing BPA controversy.

NAMPA defended its right to meet to discuss issues affecting its membership and pointed out that the media reports had "failed to portray accurately the scientific review process and conclusions of public health authorities around the world who have reaffirmed time and time again that this chemical does not present a health risk." At a loss to understand the one-sided coverage of the issue, NAMPA said in a statement: "Instead of informing people that BPA's use in metal packaging is critical to protecting food contents from microbiological contamination by enabling high temperature sterilization, the implication is that BPA serves no useful purpose."

The House Energy and Commerce Committee's press release regarding the letter to FDA and document request to NAMPA were issued on the same day the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) reconfirmed their findings that BPA is safe for use in food-contact plastics and sealants for food and beverage can liners.