Flashback: BPA in womb linked to aggression in girls | Reduce fetal exposure to BPA and phthalates, experts say | Bisphenol A traces found in baby food: Health Canada | Elevated BPA levels in people drinking out of plastic bottles, study finds | Tests find Bisphenol A in majority of soft drinks | Chemical ban targets toys, rubber duckies | As in Canada, gender-bending chemicals in UK rivers grow more potent | Chemicals feminizing males, study suggests | Major report to reveal male gender under threat from pollutants | CBC broadcasts “The Disappearing Male”, an expose of hormone-disrupting plastics | Plastics ingredient linked to feminization in children | Health Canada adds bisphenol A to list of toxic substances | Scientists Note Hormones in Water, Feminization of Fish Downstream of Montreal | New study raises concerns Bisphenol-A could be related to heart disease | Air freshener chemicals could impact fertility: study | Bisphenol tied to lower brain function | Chemical Industry Source of Hyped FDA Study ‘Exonerating’ Plastic Bottles
Martin Mittlestaedt, The Globe and Mail
April 23, 2010
Government won’t identify entity or reason for challenge to proposed designation of controversial chemical
Two years after the federal government announced with great fanfare that it would designate bisphenol A as a toxic substance, the plastic-making chemical still isn’t on the list and there is no indication when it will be.
The reason for the delay, The Globe and Mail has learned, is that an entity filed a formal notice of objection to the listing last summer. The government won’t identify the entity or reveal the reasons for the objection.
“The notice of objection is under consideration,” the department said in an e-mailed statement. “A final order to add bisphenol A to the list of toxic substances … has not yet been published.”
The estrogen-like chemical is used to produce everything from CDs to the liners of nearly all tin cans, and Canada — amid scientific disputes over its impact on people’s health and the environment — was the first country in the world to propose declaring it a toxic substance.
That designation could have international ramifications because both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration have recently announced that they are conducting reviews on the safety of the chemical.
The government’s BPA decision has been opposed by the American Chemistry Council, an Arlington, Va.-based association that represents makers of the material and maintains that it poses no health or environmental risks.
Although the council says it isn’t aware of the specific objection the Canadian government is reviewing, it has told Ottawa there is no need to take action against the chemical. “We have consistently presented our view, based on the weight of scientific evidence, that BPA does not meet the requirements to be listed as a toxic substance in Canada,” said spokesman Steve Hentges.
But others are worried about the government’s secrecy over the objection. “Frankly, unless the objector has something to hide, they shouldn’t mind that such information is divulged publicly,” said Rick Smith, executive director of Environmental Defence, an advocacy group that has lobbied for a ban on BPA.
Bisphenol A is one of the world’s largest-volume synthetic chemicals, and while it isn’t manufactured in Canada, it is imported to make plastic and is included in many finished imported products. The chemical is a building block for epoxy resins and for polycarbonate, the shatter-resistant plastic used to make office water-cooler jugs and sports helmets, among other products.
Many researchers are concerned about BPA because it is a gender-bending chemical, with a shape able to fool cells into viewing it as estrogen, the hormone that regulates female development. Laboratory studies — disputed by the chemical industry — have linked low-level exposures to such effects as skewed mammary gland growth that, if it occurred in humans, would increase breast cancer risk, and to altered brain development, particularly for exposures that occur during fetal or early neonatal life.
Designating a substance as toxic gives the government more authority to implement controls on a material. To protect wildlife, the federal government has proposed a discharge limit on the amount of BPA allowed in effluent, but its adoption depends on the chemical being place on the toxic substances list.
In response to a notice of objection, Environment Minister Jim Prentice could appoint a review panel to investigate the claims made by the entity opposing the designation. Environment Canada says no decision on such a panel has been made.
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