Yesterday, the FDA denyed a petition to ban bisphenol A (BPA) from all food and drink containers, which was filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council in 2008.
“The FDA denied the NRDC petition today because it did not provide the scientific evidence needed to change current regulations, but this announcement is not a final safety determination and the FDA continues to support research examining the safety of BPA,” said FDA spokesman Douglas Karas.
BPA is known to disrupt your endocrine system. Through interaction between hormones and their receptor sites, your endocrine system influences almost every cell, organ, and function of your body.
Your endocrine system includes glands that regulate the rate at which cells burn fuel from food to produce energy, how your immune sys- tem functions, and how your body responds to stress. It regulates your sleep cycles, how well your body metabolizes sugar and your sexual desire and function.
BPA has been in the news a lot because hundreds of scientific studies show health effects from even low exposures to BPA, including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, abnormal behavior, and infertility. BPA can even make you fat.
And BPA has been detected in the urine of more than 93% of Americans tested, and canned foods and drinks in a major source of exposure
In 2011, a study found that evidence of BPA in participants’ urine decreased by 50% to 70% after only three days of eating fresh foods, instead of eating canned foods that contained BPA.
It is clear to me there is plenty of evidence that BPA can cause harm to our health. And the precautionary principle suggests that we reduce our exposure to toxic chemicals of concern as much as possible.
There are many things we each can do to minimize our exposure to BPA from foods and beverages and other sources. I’ve put them all together in my free ebook How to Reduce Your Exposure to Bisphenol-A (BPA).
Source: FDA rejects petition to ban BPA in food packaging
“If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.”
– Thomas Jefferson
