BACKLASH FOR BPA
Yesterday we outlined some of the research that has been conducted regarding bisphenoal A (BPA) and the risks that have been highlighted, today we overview the response to the research.
The strongest reaction to BPA, arguably, has occurred in Canada and it started in 2006 when regulators in the country identified BPA as one of 200 substances that deserved thorough assessment due to harm-causing effects highlighted in preliminary studies. By early 2008, a Draft Screening Assessment was ready and the conclusion was that BPA did, in fact, pose some risk to infants and should be classified as “toxic to human health and the environment”. Following this assessment, Canada announced plans to ban the import, sale and advertisement of polycarbonate baby bottles and start investigating ways to eliminate the BPA contamination found in baby food stored in metal cans. In October of this year, Canada officially declared BPA a hazardous substance and placed it on their list of toxic substances.

While Canada was moving toward a BPA ban, other parts of the world were reassuring citizens of its safety. In 2006 German regulators pronounced polycarbonate baby bottles to be safe and research on the subject to be “contradictory” and the European Union’s Food Safety Authority seconded the claim. The following year Japan also announced the safety of BPA to its citizens, stating that there was no “unacceptable risk to human health” and that they would not be seeking a ban. In America the situation was more mixed. While some  began to call for further research and the removal of BPA products, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stayed firm in their approval of the compound and the Consumer Product Safety Commission and American Chemistry Council remained equally staunch. Although government concern was not raised, certain citizens and companies began to move in opposition and the BPA situation today looks much different than it did a few years ago.

A “Big News” Timeline for Bisphenol A Click here to read more

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Yesterday we wrote about the Environmental Working Group’s comprehensive study on the safety and efficacy of sunscreens. In response to this study, the Skin Cancer Foundation wrote that though it agreed with EWG’s assessment that sunscreens should be required to protect against UVA rays, it did not support EWG’s findings about how safe and effective oxybenzone is. The response went on to urge consumers to continue to apply sunscreen regularly, because when used as directed, it is perfectly safe and effective. (By the way, you can check out our cosmetic selection here)

Among the claims in the Foundation’s response is that “oxybenzone is approved, after extensive review, by the FDA, European Union.” But a recent EU study came to no conclusion about the compound’s safety because of a lack of sufficient data, and the FDA’s last study on oxybenzone was in the 70s. Hmm.

A recent study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) found that 97% of the U.S. population is contaminated with oxybenzone, a penetration enhancer that helps other chemicals sink into your skin. A Mount Sinai School of Medicine companion study published just a day earlier also reported that the chemical is linked to low birth weight in baby girls whose mothers are exposed during pregnancy. Click here to read more

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Gone are the days when we slather ourselves with baby oil to bake ourselves. With more than a million new cases of nonmelanoma skin cancer already estimated for 2008, we’re learning to take our sun exposure much more seriously. Now that we’ve gotten smart about the dangers of sun exposure, sunscreen has become a daily essential.

But for all our efforts to protect ourselves, it seems that many sunscreens are having the opposite effect on us: not only are they not blocking UV rays, but they are also causing us to absorb harmful chemicals into our bloodstream through our skin.

The Skin Deep Cosmetics Safety Database, an indispensable resource for finding out exactly what ingredients personal care and beauty products contain, has published an exhaustive report on the effectiveness and safety of sunscreens.

The folks behind the Database, the Environmental Working Group, conducted an investigation of 952 name-brand sunscreens, finding that 4 out of 5 of them don’t adequately protect from the sun, or contain unsafe ingredients. Much like the cosmetics and personal care industries, the suncare industry remains alarmingly unregulated by the FDA. In fact, the report states that the FDA has not finalized comprehensive sunscreen safety standards it began drafting 30 years ago. Click here to read more

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