| BPF slams 'politicised' calls for ban of Bisphenol-A in baby bottles
Simeon Goldstein, packagingnews.co.uk, 08 April 2010
The British Plastics Federation has blasted the politicisation of Bisphenol-A (BPA) and defended its use in packaging.
The Independent has today published a letter from "a coalition of leading scientists" that calls for a ban on BPA in the UK in any baby bottles or baby food containers.
Philip Law, BPI public and industrial affairs director, told Packaging News that references to 'BPA bottles' were misleading the public and that exposure to BPA was "less than newspapers would have us believe".
"The issue has become detached from scientific appreciation and has become highly politicised," he said. "Comprehensive risk assessments by the European Union have demonstrated that consumers are not at risk."
Bottles are not "made" from BPA but rather it is a substance used in the manufacture of polycarbonate, which is an inert solid plastic, Law said. He added polycarbonate was not used for the majority of food packaging, bottles and trays.
"The exposure of the public, including children, to BPA is, in the words of a Health Canada expert, 'inconsequential'," said Law in a letter to The Independent.
The Independent's article said the leading toxicologists and cancer specialists who wrote the letter "say Britain is failing to protect the public's health and should make sure manufacturers use alternative plastics".
"To protect vulnerable populations, we believe it would be both prudent and precautionary in public health terms if products containing BPA used for baby and children's food and liquid packaging in the UK were withdrawn," the letter said.
Barbara Gallani, the Food and Drink Federation¡¯s (FDF) director of food safety and science, said the body was awaiting the outcome of the EFSA review and other scientific work to assess the safety of very low levels of BPA migration from materials in contact with food.
"Pending the outcome of this review, FDF urges the authorities to resist political pressures and to come to a decision on the safety of BPA based on sound science," she said.
"If there is scientific evidence that BPA is unsafe then the food industry will take appropriate action.
"However, early indications are that any potential alternatives may perform less well than BPA with the possibility that compromises may have to be made in the form of reductions in shelf-life, thus it would be inappropriate to move away from BPA in the absence of robust scientific justification for doing so." |
