To Protect the Public, FDA Should Go Beyond Industry’s Petition on BPA

CPR Member Scholar Noah Sachs and I submitted comments yesterday to FDA regarding the American Chemistry Council’s (ACC) petition to the agency on BPA. In September, the ACC petitioned FDA to remove approval for the use of BPA in “infant feeding bottles and certain spill-proof cups” (Rena Steinzor and I explained at the time the story behind the seemingly counter-intuitive move).

In our comments this week, we advocate for FDA to utilize its full rulemaking authority and take broader regulatory action to protect the public against BPA. Specifically, we propose:

Issuing new regulations encompassing the ACC’s Petition and Rep. Edward Markey’s March 16, 2012 Petitions concerning abandoned uses;
Banning a much broader range of BPA uses without reference to age limits or target consumers; and
Mandating labeling of BPA in all food contact materials.

As we explain in the comments, convincing scientific evidence supports these broader measures because of the demonstrated low-dose effects of BPA and other endocrine disrupting chemicals. These low-dose effects are not properly accounted for in current risk assessments of BPA and it is the role of FDA to act on behalf of all consumers' safety.

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Aimee Simpson | April 18, 2012

To Protect the Public, FDA Should Go Beyond Industry’s Petition on BPA

CPR Member Scholar Noah Sachs and I submitted comments yesterday to FDA regarding the American Chemistry Council’s (ACC) petition to the agency on BPA. In September, the ACC petitioned FDA to remove approval for the use of BPA in “infant feeding bottles and certain spill-proof cups” (Rena Steinzor and I explained at the time the […]

Joel A. Mintz | April 12, 2012

Cutting EPA’s Enforcement Budget: What It Might Mean

Last week, members of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) union at EPA released an internal Agency memo describing the Agency’s proposed plan to cut back on specific areas of enforcement in response to looming budget cuts in FY 2013. The memo, by Larry Starfield, EPA’s Deputy Assistant Administrator in the Office of Enforcement […]

| April 11, 2012

Preserving the Pristine: Why the United States Should Ratify the Antarctic Liability Annex

a(broad) perspective Today’s post is second in a series on a recent CPR white paper, Reclaiming Global Environmental Leadership: Why the United States Should Ratify Ten Pending Environmental Treaties. Each month, this series will discuss one of these ten treaties. Previous posts are here. Annex VI on Liability Arising from Environmental Emergencies to the Protocol […]

Matthew Freeman | April 9, 2012

Regulatory Opponents Take Note: The Media May Be Catching On!

One of the many ways that the slow and agonizing contraction of the newspaper industry is felt is in the depth of coverage that papers provide their readers. It’s a matter of simple math, really. As newsrooms shrink, reporters are stretched ever thinner. So a newspaper that 15 years ago had separate reporters covering elementary […]

Rena Steinzor | April 6, 2012

The Age of Greed: Regulatory Look-Back In Action — Speeding Up the Line and Endangering Workers at Poultry Processing Plants

The White House’s Cass Sunstein has found another poster child for his crusade to eliminate costly regulation under President Obama’s Executive Order 13563. The order requires agencies and departments to “look back” at existing requirements in order to kill unnecessary health, safety, and environmental requirements. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), complying dutifully with the […]

Thomas McGarity | April 5, 2012

Two Years After Upper Big Branch Disaster, Where Are the Reforms?

Congress usually enacts new public protections following a major crisis or series of crises that focus attention on the failure of existing laws to protect the public or the environment from abuses by companies pursuing economic gain. Most of the protective regulatory programs of the Progressive Era, the New Deal, and the Public Interest Era […]

Aimee Simpson | April 4, 2012

FDA’s ‘Wait and See’ Approach to BPA Not Acceptable — and Not the Only Option

Last Friday, the FDA denied the Natural Resources Defense Council’s (NRDC) citizen petition requesting that the agency ban Bisphenol A (BPA) as an approved food additive and food contact substance. The agency took nearly three years to issue this decision, and did so only under a court’s order. The FDA’s denial of the petition was […]

Ben Somberg | April 2, 2012

Member Scholars Write to EPA Concerning Slow Consideration of Citizen Environmental Complaints in NAFTA Countries

When the United States signed NAFTA, it also signed the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC), which allows, among other things, for citizens to submit complaints to the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) with claims that their own governments are failing to enforce environmental laws. That key provision is in danger, a group of […]

Alice Kaswan | March 28, 2012

Greenhouse Gas Standards for New Power Plants: Glass Half-Full and Half-Empty

With congressional action on climate change at a standstill, EPA’s new source performance standards (NSPSs) for greenhouse gases (GHGs) from new power plants should be applauded. As required by the Clean Air Act, the agency is doggedly moving forward to establish emission standards for GHGs, air pollutants that unquestionably endanger human health and welfare. EPA […]