BISPHENOL A UPDATE

CANADIANS RACE TO GO BPA-FREE:

STORE SHELVES EMPTYING OF ALTERNATIVES

Earlier this month I reported on Canada’s quest to ban bisphenol A from store shelves. Like many of the good news stories I publish here, I had to dig deep to find relevant details, because feel-good environmental stories are not easy to come by in the mainstream press. I was under the impression that the bisphenol A story was buried deep in the “Science and Technology” section of a few scattered newspapers, and that the story hadn’t really reached a mass audience here in Canada. Boy, was I wrong.

This is from Carly Weeks at the Globe and Mail:

Canadian parents have been emptying store shelves and bombarding manufacturers with orders in the past week as they scramble to stock up on baby bottles made without bisphenol A, a potentially harmful and increasingly controversial chemical common in many plastics.

The overwhelming demand has resulted in shortages across the country and backlogs at many distributors, making it difficult for some parents to get their hands on BPA-free bottles.

"There's definitely been a surge in the last week or so throughout Canada," said Ron Vigdor, president of Florida-based Born Free Inc., one of the only major companies that specialize in BPA-free bottles. "We've been told a lot of shelves are empty today."

Read the full article here.

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a hormone disruptor that has been linked to cancer and reproductive problems. BPA can be found in many everyday products including food cans, plastic water containers and baby bottles. Studies have shown that people can be exposed to Bisphenol A when it leaches out of these products.

BPA is currently under review by Health Canada (and other agencies around the world), but I think it’s great to see people taking action without waiting for governments to make the decision for them. In fact, why not help make Health Canada’s decision a whole lot easier: sign Toxic Nation’s petition to ban BPA

¡VIVA LA REVOLUCIÓN!