[R-G] [BillTottenWeblog] Plastic disaster breaks through to mainstream

[Bill Totten]

Scandal over bisphenol-A

by Jan Lundberg

Culture Change Letter #180 (March 22 2008)


Our country is at a pivotal point in public health policy as it relates
to our petroleum lifestyle. The implications cover consumerism's
dead(ly) end and the demise of cheap energy from fossil fuels.

Bisphenol-A is the basic component of hard plastics that include baby
bottles, linings of food cans, sealants for jars and bottles, and other
well-known products that modern people have become dependent on. After
several years of news stories about scientific studies and a few
legislative attempts to ban or regulate bisphenol-A and other poisonous
plastics, a scandal has just emerged involving US government favoritism
for corporate perpetrators.

Plastics such as bisphenol-A cause breast cancer, testicular cancer,
diabetes, obesity, and birth defects - although the evidence is often
argued to apply so far only to laboratory animals. Other common plastics
posing great danger include phthalates (softeners) and PVC (for piping,
flooring, containers, et cetera).

Despite the obviously questionable use of synthetic materials pervasive
in a society ruled by profit maximizers, and several warnings in the
news, little has changed until perhaps now. Blind faith in scientific
progress for daily convenience also delays full realization of the error
of plastics-dependence. Overcoming this may be harder than punishing
corporate wrongdoers and banning chemicals.

John Dingell, Democratic Congressman of Michigan, has successfully
defended Detroit's automakers for decades. This has assured the optimum
pollution and energy waste associated with millions of cars made each
year. But when a powerful politician has seen fit to maintain a friendly
relationship with a major industry, he or she can be free to compensate
or seek redemption by pursuing justice and environmental protection in
other areas. Now he finds himself in a major role as a Congressional
committee chairman (Commerce and Energy) spearheading the investigation
of the Food and Drug Administration's hiding the clear danger of
bisphenol-A.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported on March 21:

Ignoring hundreds of government and academic studies showing a chemical
commonly found in plastic can be harmful to lab animals at low doses,
the Food and Drug Administration determined the chemical was safe based
on just two industry-funded studies that didn't find harm.

In response to a congressional inquiry, Stephen Mason, the FDA's acting
assistant commissioner for legislation, wrote in a letter that his
agency's claim relied on two pivotal studies sponsored by the Society of
the Plastics Industry, a subsidiary of the American Chemistry Council.


Such a revelation is not surprising to those who understand our
corrupted way of governance and our unfounded faith in mass technology.
Yet, when awareness is sparked by alarming news that hits home, and the
bigger picture can be glimpsed, it's time to make the connections for
all who are receptive.

Since the discovery of the northern Pacific Ocean's major garbage
patches in the huge current-gyre, composed of plastic debris ingested by
countless fish and birds, the campaign against the plastic plague has
gathered momentum. With documentaries such as Our Synthetic Sea, and the
historic banning of plastic bags by San Francisco and other cities and
by entire nations, a movement against plastics has made significant
progress. Some leaders, such as Ross Mirkarimi, member of San
Francisco's Board of Supervisors, have made the connection between
plastic waste and peak oil, climate change and war for oil. Culture
Change has reported on these developments and connections since 2004,
and has aided the anti-plastics movement in various ways from the local
to national to global levels.

Following the European Union's example, the State of California and the
City of San Francisco have passed legislation to limit babies' and
children's exposure to bisphenol-A and phalates. Significantly, water
bottles made of plastic have been banned by governments of certain
cities for departmental use. Bans of plastic water bottles are on tap
for San Francisco, Oakland, and elsewhere.

This is eminently reasonable when we realize that "More than six billion
pounds of bisphenol-A are produced annually in the United States, for
use in an array of products, including dental sealants and baby bottles.
The chemical has been found in the urine of 93% of Americans tested."
(Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Despite the dispiriting news that industry and government have combined
to "fool us again", this scandal is most useful for awakening the
public. Our challenge is to make sure we don't repeat the pattern of
trying to stamp out another brush fire or point blame, but rather to see
the overall threat of plastics and petroleum dependence. All plastics
should be assumed unsafe for food, water and our skin.

The assault on our oceans from plastic trash that does not biodegrade
must end as soon as possible. The connection to petrochemicals and
fossil fuels must be recognized and acknowledged daily. It is time to
reject the filth and tragedy of plastics pollution and the related
crimes - climate change, war for oil, and species loss - to the Earth
and its people.

Plastic in the environment is like an oil spill that hit decades ago and
will be with us for centuries, affecting humanity's survival. Will we
now deal with this disaster and act with responsibility for our planet
and our fellow life forms? The benefits include emancipating ourselves
from oil companies and the downsides of globalization, materialism and
dehumanization that we have allowed like sheep to the slaughter. A
better way of life is at hand for those willing and able to change and
begin cooperation with conscious neighbors.

Further reading:

Baby formula companies use bisphenol-A

Representative John Dingell (Democrat, Michigan) information on January
17 from seven manufacturers of infant formula: Did the companies sold
liquid infant formula in cans lined with bisphenol A? If so, did the
company test for its presence? How much did it detect? By Febuary 8, all
of the companies replied. Companies using bisphenol-A in the linings of
liquid infant formula cans:

Abbott: maker of RCF, Isomil and Similac infant formulas
PBM Products: maker of Bright Beginnings infant formulas
Nestl Nutrition: maker of Good Start infant formulas
Mead Johnson Nutritionals: maker of Enfamil and Nutramigen infant formulas

These companies do not make liquid infant formulas or pack their formula
in containers other than aluminum cans and are not required to respond:

Hain Celestial Group and Solus Products LLC: maker of Earth's Best
organic infant formula
Wyeth Nutrition: maker of S-26, SMA and Bonna infant formula

Source: House Committee on Energy and Commerce/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.


CHEMICAL FALLOUT: A JOURNAL SENTINEL WATCHDOG REPORT
Warning: Chemicals in the packaging, surfaces or contents of many
products may cause long-term health effects, including cancers of the
breast, brain and testicles; lowered sperm counts, early puberty and
other reproductive system defects; diabetes; attention deficit disorder,
asthma and autism. A decade ago, the government promised to test these
chemicals. It still hasn't. (Read the November-December 2007 Journal
Sentinel report) Journal Sentinel Investigations

_____

"FDA Relied on Industry Studies to Judge Chemical Safety: Response comes
in congressional inquiry on use of bisphenol A", March 21 2008, by
Susann Rust:
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=730965

Our Synthetic Sea: award-winning DVD on plastics in the oceans and
humans, available from the Algalita Marine Research Foundation: algalita.org

"Plastics are on the run in San Francisco, the nation’s anti-petroleum
capital" by Jan Lundberg. Culture Change Letter # 156 - March 29 2007:
http://www.culturechange.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=106&Itemid=1

Older Culture Change reports: "Plastics: Your Formidable Enemy:
Questioning exposure, recycling, biodegradability, alternatives" (see
links at bottom to more recent reports such as "War on Plastics"):
http://culturechange.org/e-letter-plastics_enemy.html

_____

This report has been written and distributed with the kind cooperation
of the Maya Mountain Research Farm, Belize. See their website mmrfbz.org

http://culturechange.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=164&Itemid=2#cont

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