FDA To Re-Think Decision On BPA Safety

In the back-and-forth ping pong match that is the battle over bisphenol A (BPA), the forces leery over the possibly dangerous chemical have just fired back. On Friday, a science advisory board to the Food and Drug Administration endorsed a subcommittee report that concluded the FDA’s August pronouncement of BPA’s safety was flawed. Reads the report: “[The information] provides a sufficient scientific basis to conclude that the Margins of Safety defined by FDA as ‘adequate’ are, in fact, inadequate.”

Through its decision, the science board (a group of outside experts), said that the FDA was wrong to base its decision solely on industry-funded studies – in the process ignoring other research with more damaging conclusions. The FDA declared three months ago that BPA (commonly found in reusable plastic water bottles, baby bottles and the linings of metal cans) was safe in trace amounts. But since then, BPA has come under repeated attacks. A September study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association linked it to heart disease and diabetes. Another study last month by the National Toxicology Program suggested that BPA exposure to expecting mothers may cause alterations in brain, prostate gland and behavioral development in fetuses and children.

The report, penned by a subcommittee on Wednesday before it was brought to light Friday, charges the FDA with using old data, employing studies that weren’t designed to study newborns and not taking into account the cumulative effect of BPA exposures from multiple sources. “It is the judgment of the Subcommittee,” pronounces the report on that last charge, “that lack of consideration of the totality of exposures from other sources severely limits the usefulness of the safety assessment.”

In a statement Wednesday, the FDA stood by its initial decision over the safety of BPA: “Current levels of exposure to BPA through food packaging do not pose an immediate health risk to the general population, including infants and babies.” However, FDA director Andrew von Eschenbach has stated the agency will revisit its decision in light of last week’s ruling.

Counselor PromoGram, http://www.asicentral.com/asp/open/news/promogram/vol564.asp, Volume 564, November 4, 2008.