FDA Bans BPA from Baby Bottles and Sippie Cups

The FDA is hardly known as Johnny-On-The-Spot.  It takes a lot to "move them".  So you can imagine the mountain of evidence required to convince them that Bisphenol A (just call it "BPA") is dangerous stuff and should be banned.

Doctors, researchers, and medical experts testified before the FDA about the risks of this chemical, an ingredient used to soften plastic into plyable and thinner forms.  In this testimony, the experts focused on keeping BPA out of our children's bodies.

In the end, the FDA banned BPA from baby bottles and sippy cups.  "Bravo, Bravo!" the crowds cheered.  After all, BPA is known as a controversial hormone-disrupting chemical that studies show is linked to cancer, obesity, heart disease, and other life-threatening diseases.  But what about my can of Bud?  Shouldn't the FDA eliminate BPA from the lining of metal beer cans, soda cans, soup and vegetable cans?  I can't believe it's even in there! 

The EPA's decision is a huge step but this stuff is in a huge array of packaging products like shampoo, conditioners, skin creams, sun blocks and the list goes on and on.  How about those cans of raviolli you pulled from the vending machine in college dorm hallways?  Yep, probably lined with BPA, too.  The you popped them into the microwave and...you guessed it, plastic bubbles!  Ugh.

Major brands have already begun distancing themselves from BPA due to consumer outrage. These companies have shown great leadership, but moving company by company and product by product is taking far too long. BPA will continue to make Americans sick until it's out of our food supply for good. We need strong action now, nationally AND locally.

If you would like to sign a petition directed to the FDA promoting a broader BPA ban, click onto Change.org to learn more and to be taken to the petition in support of that campaign.

Last year, I helped pass our village ban single-use plastic bags in because plastic bags contain BPA.  Those same plastic bags can enter our food stream through the fish in the ocean that ingest ground up plastic bags that have broken down into tiny pieces, confusing them for planktin ("Tastes just like planktin, Charlie?") and end up right back on our dinner plates and those of our families.

In view of the FDA ban, shouldn't the Town of Southampton eliminate BPA-contaminated plastic bags from our Town dumps and area landfills before they irrepairably contaminate our water supplies? 

What about the Town's Green Bags?   

Want the answer?  Don't ask me...ask them.  But it seems to me that the FDA is onto this poison and that we should get out in front of it, too.  Let your voice be heard...sign the petition above and tell your Town Board representative today.