Proposal made to ban chemical in children's products

Danielle Christine Emerson By Danielle Christine Emerson
on April 17, 2009 at 12:17 PM, updated April 17, 2009 at 12:19 PM

LANSING - Two House Democrats are teaming up to combat a chemical linked to metabolic syndrome and diabetes, among other health complications.

Reps. Mark Meadows, D-East Lansing, and Rebekah Warren, D-Ann Arbor, are sponsoring legislation that would prohibit the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) in children's products.

BPA is most commonly found in plastics - things like baby bottles, toys, water bottles, sports equipment and in the coating of some food containers.

"Animal studies suggest that if young animals are exposed - either prenatally or after birth - that there can be some developmental effects," said Linda Dykema, a toxicologist for the Department of Community Health's Division of Environmental and Occupational Epidemiology.

George Corcoran, a toxicologist and chair of the Pharmaceutical Sciences Department at Wayne State University, explained BPA is a small molecule that strings together to make polymers, or chains of molecules that ultimately make BPA.

Over time - as is seen in canned food coating - the polymer breaks down and the molecules spread to contaminate the food.

Dykema said its effects tend to be related to reproductive development because BPA seems to act like the hormone estrogen.

"The body recognizes it as estrogen and acts accordingly. So what we see in the animal studies is an early onset of puberty in females, some altered prostate gland and urinary tract development in the males and some behavioral changes," she said.

But Corcoran said the debate in the scientific community is not so much over whether the chemical is dangerous, but at what levels.

He said federal agencies consider a tolerable level of BPA for adults to be 3.5 milligrams daily, or the equivalent of the weight of an ant. Federal agencies also suggest that adults take in only up to 10 percent of that amount.

He did say, however, that a recent study by the American Medical Association tested the urine of 1,500 adults and found a higher rate of disease for people with a higher rate of BPA in their urine.

Currently, there is no federal ban on BPA, although some states like California, Maryland, Connecticut and New Jersey have begun to limit the use of BPA. California is the first state to pass legislation to ban the chemical for use in children's products.

Meadows, the primary sponsor of the legislation, said he is aware of the opposition ahead but is optimistic about the measure's fate.

"We know there's going to be industry opposition, but the scientific community seems to be coming together in agreement about the dangers this chemical poses to children," he said.

Dykema added that most baby bottle producers have begun voluntarily removing the chemical from their products.

But there is some concern about why the legislation is directed only towards products for children 7 years and younger.

Dykema said, "If you think of it from the perspective of an infant who is bottle-fed, all of that infant's food is coming out of that bottle. So if there is BPA coming out of the baby bottle into the formula, they'll get a high amount of exposure.

"Babies are just smaller. They probably are taking in a higher dose per unit of their body weight than an adult would," she said.

Meadows agreed, asserting that there is evidence that BPA affects children more than adults.

The legislation has been referred to the House Great Lakes and the Environment Committee.