Green Options

At a scientific hearing held Tuesday, the FDA maintained the use of bisphenol A (BPA) in hard plastics is safe, but advised on ways to limit exposure.

If it is safe, why limit exposure?

As reported by the Associated Press,

“Right now, our tentative conclusion is that it’s safe, so we’re not recommending any change in habits,” said Laura Tarantino, head of the FDA’s office of food additive safety. But she acknowledged, “there are a number of things people can do to lower their exposure.”

Mainly, she said, avoid any recyclable plastic stamped with the number 7.

“The vast majority of evidence suggests that even everyday levels of exposure to BPA can be associated with a number of different health issues,” Sarah Janssen, a science fellow at NRDC who attended the hearing, wrote on her blog.

Everyday exposure is especially dangerous for babies, who, according to Sonya Lunder of the Environmental Working Group, are exposed to more than 12 times as much BPA as adults.

So what gives? Independent studies and scientists have been sounding the alarm bell on the levels of BPA found in human blood and tissue.

A recent paper in the National Bureau of Economic Research titled “Air Pollution and Infant Health: Lessons from New Jersey” examined a large sample size of infants and mothers.  Using information from air quality monitors near children’s residences, researchers discovered “consistently negative effects of exposure to pollution, especially carbon monoxide, both during and after birth.”  This really doesn’t come as any big surprise to me, but research like this is important in substantiating why we need stricter clean air regulations.