Bill
would prohibit BPA look-a-like
compounds in children's products
The
New York State Assembly has put forth a bill than
bans BPA substitution chemicals in children's products.
The
bill, which has been referred to the
state's Department of Environmental Conservation, would expand existing
legislation that prohibits the sale of child care products that contain
bisphenol-A. It comes in response to studies that have reported many BPA
substitution chemicals are just as harmful—if not more so—than the chemical
they're designed to replace.
The
ban would expand to include: bisphenol AF (BPAF), bisphenol Z (BPZ), bisphenol
S (BPS), bisphenol F (BPF), bisphenol AP (BPAP) and bisphenol B (BPB).
BPA—used
to make plastic hard and shatterproof and to extend the shelf life of canned
food—can leach out of products. Studies routinely show that more than 90
percent of people have traces of the chemical in their body.
BPA
is an endocrine disruptor, meaning it messes with the body's hormones,
potentially at very low levels. In both animal and human studies the chemical
has been linked to multiple health impacts in exposed babies and
children—including obesity, asthma, low birth weights and genital defects.
In recent years scientists have warned that substitution chemicals are increasingly being used in "BPA-Free" products and that they may carry some of the same health risks.
The
bill, sponsored by Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) who chairs the NY Assembly
Committee on Environmental Conservation, pointed to a September 2017 study
that found the six BPA alternatives all mimic estrogen in breast cancer cells;
three of them more so than BPA itself.
"The
plastics manufacturing industry have turned to alternative bisphenols to
produce their 'BPA-free' products, often with little toxicology testing,"
wrote the authors of the study.
Michael
Antoniou, a researcher at the Gene Expression and Therapy Group at King's
College London who led the study, told EHN of the bill's expansion: "We're
delighted that the implications of our findings showing potent estrogenic
effects from BPA alternatives is leading to legislative change to better
protect at least children from these chemicals."
The
new bill amends the "Bisphenol A-free Children and Babies Act", which
was passed in 2010. In justifying the change, lawmakers wrote: "This
legislation will help eliminate child exposure to these potentially harmful
hormone-like chemicals and help prevent adverse substitutions to BPA." The
change is scheduled to take effect December 31, 2019
The
bill would put New York out in front of federal policy. In response to
Antoniou's 2017 paper the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said the study
"'highlight the need for testing of replacement chemicals prior to their
introduction into commerce to demonstrate that they are safer than the chemical
being replaced."
However
the feds haven't taken any action on replacement chemicals.
"This
is how policy should be shaped, based on the latest solid scientific evidence,
which our work provides. We hope other states and nations will follow the
example of New York and enact similar laws," Antoniou said.
Related: BPA-free? Substitutions mimic hormones in breast cancer cells
Related: BPA-free? Substitutions mimic hormones in breast cancer cells