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FDA: BPA Safe In Food Containers

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The Washington Post

Published: August 16, 2008

WASHINGTON - A controversial chemical commonly found in can linings, baby bottles and other household products does not pose a health hazard when used in food containers, according to a draft assessment released Friday by the Food and Drug Administration.

The report stands in contrast to more than 100 studies performed by government scientists and university laboratories that have found health concerns associated with BPA.

"FDA has concluded that an adequate margin of safety exists for BPA at current levels of exposure from food contact uses," regulators wrote in the draft report, which will be reviewed Sept. 16 at a meeting of members of an FDA advisory committee studying the safety of the chemical.

The chemical industry and the agencies that regulate the use of BPA, the FDA and the Environmental Protection Agency, have deemed the chemical safe, largely on the strength of two industry-funded studies that found no problems. The American Chemistry Council welcomed the findings of the new report.

FDA critic Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Research Center for Women and Families, said the agency lacks sufficient data to declare the chemical safe.

"Clearly their effort was to minimize people being concerned about this," Zuckerman said.

"It just seems that whenever there is an opportunity to look at a new important issue, they just seem to be siding with industry's point of view."

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