GRENers<br><br>Some investigative journalism reveals the typical "back room" manoeuvering leading up to new legislation Bisphenol A.<br><br>Notice how the Public Health Service fought against the Bisphenol A ban. <br>
<br>The Public Health Service also fought against the pesticide ban and are now vigorously fighting against the proposed ban of artificial water fluoridation. <br><br>Nomination for the best marketing line of the century: <b style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Safe and Effective!</b><br>
<br>Carole<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; font-weight: bold;" lang="EN-US">Decision to ban BPA
in baby bottles was controversial: Documents</span></font></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US">By Sarah Schmidt, Canwest News Service, February 24,
2010 10:21 AM</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US"> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US">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.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US">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.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US"> BPA is used as a building block in polycarbonate
plastic.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US"> 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.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US"></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US">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."</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US"> 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.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US"></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US">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.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> Internal documents show that nine days before the
announcement, Clement wasn't planning to announce the ban</span> — 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.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US"></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">The records also show the decision received a tepid
response from Canada's
chief public health officer.</span> 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.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US">Butler-Jones responded that the proposed ban in
bottles was "probably reasonable" and that <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">he was fine with not
extending the ban to infant tin cans.</span></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US"> 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.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US"> 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.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US"></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">That's "where all these decisions were
made,"</span> 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. <br></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US">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."</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US"></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US">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.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US"></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US">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."</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US"> 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!"</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US"> And once the final decision was made to move forward
to restrict the ban to polycarbonate baby bottles,<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> the health minister's office
wanted to make sure Butler-Jones, the head of the Canadian Public Health
Agency,</span> was on board, given there would be no announcement to ban BPA in infant
formula cans.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US"> The minister's senior policy adviser, who also served
for the current Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq, asked senior agency officials,
<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">"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."</span></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US"> 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)."</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US"></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US">He added, <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">"I don't think we need to ban it in
formula cans</span>, though working with industry to phase it out is important."</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></font>-- <br></p></div></div></div>Carole Clinch BA BPHE<br>307 Normandy Ave<br>Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2K 1X6<br>
519-884-8184<br><br>Spokesperson & Research Coordinator <br>People for Safe Drinking Water<br>Website: <a href="http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2009/10/26/people_for_safe_drinking_water.htm">http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2009/10/26/people_for_safe_drinking_water.htm</a><br>
<br>Auditor General of Canada Petition #221E: Misrepresentation and Omissions of Material Fact by Government Agencies<br><a href="http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/Clinch_2009_AuditorGeneralCanada_Petition_False_Misleading.pdf">http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/Clinch_2009_AuditorGeneralCanada_Petition_False_Misleading.pdf</a><br>
<br>Clinch CA. Fluoride Interactions with Iodine and Iodide: Implications for Breast Health. Fluoride April-June 2009:42(2):75-87. <br><a href="http://www.fluorideresearch.org/422/files/FJ2009_v42_n2_p00i-iii.pdf">http://www.fluorideresearch.org/422/files/FJ2009_v42_n2_p00i-iii.pdf</a><br>
<br>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.<br><a href="http://www.fluorideresearch.org/424/files/FJ2009_v42_n4_p260-276.pdf">http://www.fluorideresearch.org/424/files/FJ2009_v42_n4_p260-276.pdf</a><br>