Canada Declares BPA Toxic

Last week, the government of Canada formally declared bisphenol A (BPA) to be a toxic substance. The US still denies it.

This comes after Canada’s first national physical study on BPA revealed that 91% of Canadians have the chemical in their bodies, with teenagers having the highest concentrations.
As we have noted in numerous Pulse articles and Action Alerts, there are serious health risks from exposure to the endocrine-disrupting chemical BPA. As a result, there have been nationwide efforts to ban it from food and beverage containers, especially those used by babies and children. ANH-USA has petitioned the FDA to review the widespread use of BPA in children’s dental products, but the Agency has not deigned to respond.
Animal tests show that BPA, a plastics hardener that is also a synthetic estrogen, can cause reproductive and behavioral abnormalities and lower intellectual ability, and sets the stage for cancers, obesity, diabetes, asthma, and heart disease.
The New York Times reports that Canada’s move was strenuously fought by its chemical industry. Designating BPA as toxic will make it easier to ban the use of BPA in specific products through regulations rather than by amending legislation, a cumbersome and slow process, according to an official at Environment Canada.