Disease Proof

Democrats have introduced a bill that would ban chemical in plastics, including BPA. Lyndsey Layton of The Washington Post reports:

"There have been enough warning signs about the dangers of this chemical that we cannot sit idly by and continue to allow vulnerable children and infants to be exposed," said Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.). His bill to ban bisphenol A, or BPA, was co-sponsored by Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), Richard J. Durbin (Ill.), Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), John F. Kerry (Mass.) and Robert Menendez (N.J.).

Schumer said he wants the CDC to weigh in because of conflicting scientific studies on BPA. A growing body of new studies has linked the chemical to prostate and breast cancers, diabetes, behavioral disorders such as hyperactivity, and reproductive problems in laboratory animals.

This month, the National Toxicology Program, part of the National Institutes of Health, was the first federal agency to raise concerns about the effect of the chemical on fetuses, infants and children. "The report earlier this month was an eye-opener," Schumer said. "Now we want to get one final, indisputable ruling, once and for all, on the effects of BPA on adults, and pregnant women in particular."

I’m sure a handful of cost-cutting obsessed plastics CEOs will step up in “defense” of these chemicals.