[All] Decision to ban BPA in baby bottles was controversial: Government Documents

[Carole Clinch]

GRENers

Some investigative journalism reveals the typical "back room" manoeuvering
leading up to new legislation Bisphenol A.

Notice how the Public Health Service fought against the Bisphenol A ban.

The Public Health Service also fought against the pesticide ban and are now
vigorously fighting against the proposed ban of artificial water
fluoridation.

Nomination for the best marketing line of the century: *Safe and Effective!*

Carole

*Decision to ban BPA in baby bottles was controversial: Documents*

By Sarah Schmidt, Canwest News Service, February 24, 2010 10:21 AM



OTTAWA — Canada's decision to become the first country to ban baby bottles
with bisphenol A was in flux in the days leading up to the unprecedented
announcement — and was secured after the intervention of senior Conservative
political officials, internal government records show.

The federal government made history in April 2008 when it announced plans to
list the hormone-disrupting chemical as a toxic substance and to ban the use
of polycarbonate baby bottles.

 BPA is used as a building block in polycarbonate plastic.

 No other country has since followed Canada's lead, but manufacturers of
baby bottles have voluntarily removed BPA from their products after
consumers and retailers in other countries stopped buying and selling
polycarbonate bottles, even as the chemicals industry maintains the plastic
additive is safe.

Tony Clement, health minister at the time, called the toxic designation and
the ban a "prudent" move, saying government scientists concluded that BPA
exposure to newborns and infants was below levels that may pose a risk, but
"the gap between exposure and effect is not large enough."

 More than 5,000 pages of Health Canada correspondence and documents
covering a two-week period leading up to the announcement released to
Canwest News Service under access to information paint a less definitive
picture about the decision to ban the additive in baby bottles, showing some
unease within Health Canada about this precautionary approach to BPA.

This approach allows policy-makers to make discretionary decisions in
situations where there is evidence of potential harm, such as BPA and
reproductive disorders and cancer, in the absence of complete scientific
proof.

 Internal documents show that nine days before the announcement, Clement
wasn't planning to announce the ban — and the "new turn for baby bottles"
came after a high-level meeting involving officials from the health
minister's office and the Prime Minister's Office.

The records also show the decision received a tepid response from Canada's
chief public health officer. At one point, political officials in the
minister's officer were worried David Butler-Jones might have concerns with
the plan to ban it in baby bottles but not in infant-formula tin cans, where
bisphenol A is found in the epoxy lining.

Butler-Jones responded that the proposed ban in bottles was "probably
reasonable" and that he was fine with not extending the ban to infant tin
cans.

 Initially, though, Clement was scheduled to simply unveil tips on how to
use baby bottles properly to reduce exposure of infants and to commit to
"exploring options to restrict the amount of bisphenol A found in baby
bottles," according to draft media lines.

 After a "gruelling five hour dry run" with officials in Clement's office,
the Prime Minister's Office and the Privy Council, the bureaucratic arm of
the Prime Minister's Office, the government decided to move forward with a
baby bottle ban.

That's "where all these decisions were made," according to an assistant
deputy minister of health, who attended the pivotal meeting alongside three
other Health Canada civil servants — a communications specialist, the
director general of the food directorate and director of chemical safety,
pegged as the department's "science spokesman" at the meeting.

Following the meeting with political staffers, the chemical safety director
then told Health Canada's chief of chemical health hazard assessment and
other top officials in the food directorate's bureau of chemical safety to
"note the new turn for baby bottles."

His scientific team had already prepared food-related risk-management
options for BPA, suggesting a uniform approach for baby bottles and food
containers; in addition to being used to make shatter-resistant
polycarbonate bottles, BPA is also used as corrosive-resistant protective
coating in food and drink cans, including cans for infant formula.

Under the heading of polycarbonate baby bottles, his team referred to the
"need to ensure consistency in recommended risk management approach for
pre-packaged foods and consumer products, given comparable exposure
estimates from both sources."

 The Health Canada official had also written to a colleague in Health
Canada's veterinary drugs directorate that the final decision on any
risk-management steps is not up to scientists. "Our role is to recommend to
the minister what science dictates to us, the rest (i.e. Decision) is up to
him!"

 And once the final decision was made to move forward to restrict the ban to
polycarbonate baby bottles, the health minister's office wanted to make sure
Butler-Jones, the head of the Canadian Public Health Agency, was on board,
given there would be no announcement to ban BPA in infant formula cans.

 The minister's senior policy adviser, who also served for the current
Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq, asked senior agency officials, "we would
like to know whether he is prepared to state unequivocally that the benefits
of feeding formula to babies outweigh the risks of exposure to BPA contained
in cans of formula. Otherwise, we have a significant comms and policy
challenge."

 In response, Butler-Jones told the minister's office that a ban on baby
bottles made with BPA is "probably reasonable as there are alternatives
(glass and those with flexible liners)."

He added, "I don't think we need to ban it in formula cans, though working
with industry to phase it out is important."

  --
Carole Clinch BA BPHE
307 Normandy Ave
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2K 1X6
519-884-8184

Spokesperson & Research Coordinator
People for Safe Drinking Water
Website:
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2009/10/26/people_for_safe_drinking_water.htm

Auditor General of Canada Petition #221E: Misrepresentation and Omissions of
Material Fact by Government Agencies
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/Clinch_2009_AuditorGeneralCanada_Petition_False_Misleading.pdf

Clinch CA. Fluoride Interactions with Iodine and Iodide: Implications for
Breast Health. Fluoride April-June 2009:42(2):75-87.
http://www.fluorideresearch.org/422/files/FJ2009_v42_n2_p00i-iii.pdf

Long H, Jin Y, Lin M, Sun Y, Zhang L, Clinch C. Fluoride Toxicity in the
Male Reproductive System. Fluoride Oct-Dec 2009;42(4):275-291.
http://www.fluorideresearch.org/424/files/FJ2009_v42_n4_p260-276.pdf
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