Follow-up on BPA in Food Can Liners

Monday I wrote a blog entry concerning BPA in food can liners. This morning I see an article from Consumer Reports on this very thing, and the news isn't good. The amount of BPA in food from a can is can easily be above safe limits, if you eat much canned food. Personally, I don't eat a lot of food from a can, with the exception of tomatoes. In one canned soup, the contents contained more than double the amount of BPA considered safe for an adult male.

The article ends with the following pointers to reduce exposure to BPA:

• Choose fresh food whenever possible
• Consider alternatives to canned food, beverages, juices and infant formula
• Use glass containers when heating food in a microwave

Consumer reports recommends frozen fruits and vegetables over canned, if you can't get fresh.

Another reason to take up gardening.

BPA in Food Can Liners

I was looking at the Fall issue of Green American and came across an article on bisphenol-A in food cans. I then looked up the report from As You Sow about the response of food companies to a request from them to eliminate BPA from food packaging. I encourage you to do the same.

For now, here is a short summary:

- Why we don't want BPA: this chemical has been associated with hormone disruption, cancer, neurological defects, infertility, obesity, and heart disease (in women.) Because women respond to estrogen and estrogen mimickers like BPA, women are at higher risk for heart arrhythmias than men.
- Current regulatory status: Several states have passed laws to eliminate BPA from children's products; other states are considering such legislation. The FDA is reassessing the safety of BPA. Several food industry groups insist BPA is safe and food companies continue to line cans with BPA.
- Status: As You Sow and Green America surveyed 20 major food companies about their use of BPA.
-- 14 companies responded. All use BPA to line food cans: Hain Celestial, Heinz, Nestle, Kellogg, ConAgra, General Mills, PepsiCo, Campbell, CocaCola, McCormick & Company, Kraft, Hershey, JM Smucker, Del Monte.
-- 6 companies did not respond: Chiquita, Dean, Hormel, Sara Lee, Sysco, Unilever
-- Best: Heinz as it has already moved to a less toxic alternative to BPA in baby-food can linings. Heinz, Hain Celestial, Nestle all indicate they are working to phase out BPA.
-- The following companies indicate they intend to take no action concerning BPA: Del Monte, Hershey, and JM Smucker.

Note: Although Green America posts the magazine to its website, the Spring issue is still up as the current one, so I cannot provide a link to the referenced article.