The controversy over bisphenol A (BPA) is spurring manufacturers to offer BPA-free products and fueling debate over how new chemicals enter the market, according to an article scheduled for the June 2 issue of Chemical & Engineering News, ACS weekly newsmagazine. Widely used in consumer products, including baby bottles and beverage bottles, BPA has come under increasing scrutiny by Congress, regulators in the U.S. and abroad, the news media, and other groups over its allegedly harmful health effects.

Written by C&EN Associate Editor Britt Erickson, the story points out that retailers and manufacturers alike are not waiting for scientists to settle the unknowns about BPA, which can have estrogen-like biological effects. Instead, they have been pulling BPA products from store shelves or abandoning its use altogether. Consumers also are avoiding products packaged in containers made with BPA.

More than two billion pounds of BPA are used annually in the United States. Although a growing number of studies suggest that low-level exposure to the chemical can cause cancer, obesity, and other health problems, the plastics industry and federal regulatory agencies insist that the chemical is safe, the article states. Erickson described how Congress entered the fray by launching an investigation into the use of BPA in baby bottles.

ARTICLE #5 EMBARGOED FOR 9 A.M., EASTERN TIME, June 2, 2008
Bisphenol A under Scrutiny

This story will be available on June 2 at
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/government/86/8622gov1.html

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