You Are What You Eat: 93% of Americans Test positive For BPA

Just When You Thought It MIGHT Be Safe To Drink From Plastic....

Disputed chemical bisphenol-A found in paper receipts

By Lyndsey Layton
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 27, 2010; A13

As lawmakers and health experts wrestle over whether a controversial chemical, bisphenol-A, should be banned from food and beverage containers, a new analysis by an environmental group suggests Americans are being exposed to BPA through another, surprising route: paper receipts.

The Environmental Working Group found BPA on 40 percent of the receipts it collected from supermarkets, automated teller machines, gas stations and chain stores. In some cases, the total amount of BPA on the receipt was 1,000 times the amount found in the epoxy lining of a can of food, another controversial use of the chemical.

Sonya Lunder, a senior analyst with the environmental group, says BPA's prevalence on receipts could help explain why the chemical can be detected in the urine of an estimated 93 percent of Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"We've come across potentially major sources of BPA right here in our daily lives," Lunder said. "When you're carrying around a receipt in your wallet for months while you intend to return something, you could be shedding BPA into your home, into your environment. If you throw a receipt into a bag of food, and it's lying there against an apple, or you shove a receipt into your bag next to a baby pacifier, you could be getting all kinds of exposure and not realize it."

What remains unknown is how much of the chemical that may rub off onto the hands is absorbed through the skin or whether people then ingest BPA by handling food or touching their mouths.

Among those surveyed, receipts from Safeway supermarkets contained the highest concentration of BPA. A receipt taken from a store in the District contained 41 milligrams of the chemical. If the equivalent amount of BPA was ingested by a 155-pound adult, that would exceed EPA's decades-old safe exposure limit for BPA by 12 times.

Brian Dowling, a Safeway spokesman, said the company is researching the issue and consulting with its suppliers of receipt paper.

First synthesized in 1891 and developed in the 1930s as a synthetic form of estrogen, bisphenol-A has been widely used in commercial products including plastic bottles, compact discs and dental sealants. While it was regarded as safe for decades, recent research using sophisticated analytic techniques suggests that low doses of the compound can interfere with the endocrine system and cause a range of health effects, including reproductive problems and cancer.

Federal regulators have been focused on BPA and whether it leaches from containers into foods and beverages at levels that may cause health problems. Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration expressed "some concern" about BPA and joined several agencies in conducting $30 million in studies to try to answer questions about its safety. Lawmakers on the local, state and federal levels have moved to ban BPA from food and beverage containers made for infants and children.

The American Chemistry Council, which represents the chemical industry, said that while BPA can transfer from paper receipts to the skin, the level of absorption is low. "Available data suggests that BPA is not readily absorbed through the skin," a spokeswoman said. "Biomonitoring data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control shows that exposure to BPA from all sources, which would include typical exposure from receipts, is extremely low."

The Environmental Protection Agency, however, recognizing that paper coated in BPA may be a significant route of exposure, launched an effort this month to work with paper manufacturers, the chemical industry and environmental groups to encourage companies to find alternatives to BPA in receipts.

Appleton Papers, the nation's largest manufacturer of "thermal papers," the type often used for receipts, dropped BPA from its formulation in 2006 out of growing concerns about the safety of the chemical, said Kent Willetts, the company's vice president of strategic development. "We just realized we'd rather move away from it sooner than later," Willetts said.

The Environmental Working Group's report can be found

online at http://www.ewg.org/bpa-in-store-receipts.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/26/AR2010072605001.html

The Sky Is Blue

Cracks in the empire........... small cracks but cracks still.......


Reversing itself, FDA expresses concerns over health risks from BPA

By Lyndsey Layton
Saturday, January 16, 2010; A01

The Food and Drug Administration has reversed its position on the safety of Bisphenol A, a chemical found in plastic bottles, soda cans, food containers and thousands of consumer goods, saying it now has concerns about health risks.

Growing scientific evidence has linked the chemical to a host of problems, including cancer, sexual dysfunction and heart disease. Federal officials said they are particularly concerned about BPA's effect on the development of fetuses, infants and young children.

"We have some concern, which leads us to recommend reasonable steps the public can take to reduce exposure to BPA," said Joshua Sharfstein, FDA's deputy commissioner, in a conference call to reporters Friday.

Regulators stopped short of banning the compound or even requiring manufacturers to label products containing BPA, saying that current data are not clear enough to support a legal crackdown. FDA officials also said they were hamstrung from dealing quickly with BPA by an outdated regulatory framework.

Sharfstein said the agency is conducting "targeted" studies of BPA, part of a two-year, $30 million effort by the administration to answer key questions about the chemical that will help determine what action, if any, is necessary to protect public health. The Obama administration pledged to take a "fresh look" at the chemical.

BPA, used to harden plastics, is so prevalent that more than 90 percent of the U.S. population has traces of it in its urine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Researchers have found that BPA leaches from containers into food and beverages, even at cold temperatures.

The FDA's announcement came after extensive talks between federal agencies and the White House about the best approach to an issue that has become a significant concern for consumers and the chemical industry.

One administration official privy to the talks said the FDA is in a quandary. "They have new evidence that makes them worried, but they don't have enough proof to justify pulling the stuff, so what do you do?" said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "You want to warn people, but you don't want to create panic."

The FDA had long maintained that BPA is safe, relying largely on two studies funded by the chemical industry. The agency was faulted by its own panel of independent science advisers in 2008, which said its position on BPA was scientifically flawed because it ignored more than 100 published studies by government scientists and university laboratories that raised health concerns about BPA. Recent data found health effects even at low doses of BPA -- lower than the levels considered safe by the FDA.

The chemical industry, which produces more than 6 billion tons of BPA annually and has been fighting restrictions on its use, said Friday's announcement was good news because the agency did not tell people to stop using products containing the chemical.

"The science continues to support the safety of BPA," said Steven Hentges of the American Chemistry Council.

In a statement, the industry group said: "Plastics made with BPA contribute safety and convenience to our daily lives because of their durability, clarity and shatter-resistance. Can liners and food-storage containers made with BPA are essential components to helping protect the safety of packaged foods. . . . ACC remains committed to consumer safety, and will continue to review new scientific studies concerning the safety of BPA."

Bisphenol A was discovered to be a synthetic estrogen in the 1930s. By the 1950s, chemists found BPA could be used to make polycarbonate plastics, giving them a "shatterproof" quality, and the uses for the chemical exploded.

But recently, consumers have placed increasing pressure on manufacturers and retailers to migrate away from BPA. In 2008, Babies R Us and other major retailers told suppliers they would no longer stock baby bottles made with BPA. Last year, the six largest manufacturers of baby bottles announced they would voluntarily stop selling bottles made with bisphenol A to consumers in the United States.

But BPA remains in the epoxy linings of most canned goods, including baby formula. Research has shown that it leaches from the linings into liquid formula, but not powered formula.

Environmental groups, public health advocates and consumer organizations applauded the FDA for recognizing concern about BPA, but some said the agency didn't go far enough.

"It's really a shame after all of the studies out there that they didn't do anything to protect the public health," said Urvashi Rangan, director of technical policy at Consumers Union. "How many pieces of evidence do we need before we have enough to act?"

Canada declared BPA a toxin and banned it from baby bottles in 2008. Similar restrictions have taken root in Chicago, Minnesota, Connecticut and Suffolk County in New York. In Congress, Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) have filed a bill that would block BPA from all food and drink packaging.

As it awaits additional research results, the FDA plans to change the way it classifies BPA so that it can exercise tighter controls over the chemical, Sharfstein said. Currently, BPA is approved as a "food additive," which means manufacturers are not required to tell the government which products contain BPA and in what amounts. The agency wants to reclassify it as a "food contact material," which would require greater disclosure from manufacturers and would allow the FDA to take fast action if it determined that the material posed a health risk.

The Department of Health and Human Services has released recommended ways for the public to reduce exposure to BPA. It can be found at http://www.hhs.gov/safety/bpa.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/15/AR2010011504070.html

Tiffins - am I hip or what?

Cutting down on plastic usage is a goal with many worthy reasons. We have been trying to cut down on plastic when we carry our lunch with us to school or work. When I was a kid, lunch boxes were metal but I don't see them any more. A few years ago I saw tiffins at the local National Wholesale Liquidators store (now since closed down) and bought some. We have been able to eliminate using plastic for carrying lunch - no plastic containers, no plastic wrap, no plastic lunch box. And the tiffin retains heat so hot food is at least warm when it is time for lunch.
My kids had no resistance to the tiffins and at this point they have received enough positive comments from a variety of people - kid and adult - that they think the tiffins are cool. I have had two of the tall ones from National Wholesale Liquidators that have problems with their lid - it screws on but it doesn't stop. I also have had two that worked fine. The small one has a clamp lid. National Wholesalers sold the tall one for about $15 and both are stainless steel.




Newly Frugal Indians Revive Tiffin Tradition
Homemade Lunch Delivery Surges

By Emily Wax
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, May 10, 2009

MUMBAI -- Outside one of this city's busiest railway stations, Vilesh Shinde balanced 50 metal containers on a wooden board atop his head and rushed into the thick morning traffic, sprinting through the financial district to deliver home-cooked meals to his newest customers: young Indian professionals.

Shinde is one of Mumbai's approximately 5,000 dabbawalas, or lunch deliverymen. Dressed in white caps and starched chef's smocks, bearing foot-tall lunch pails known as tiffins, the fast-moving dabbawalas are a symbol of old India who not long ago appeared to be an endangered species.

With incomes rising and the Indian economy rapidly growing, sociologists predicted the demise of the dabbawala. That is, until the global financial crisis in the past year caused many middle-class urban Indians to return to the tiffin, shunning the city's more expensive restaurants and cafes in favor of the way their grandparents used to eat.

For about $6 a month, the dabbawalas collect lunches from white-collar workers' homes in the city's vast outskirts and deliver them, still hot, directly to their desks in the bustling city center. The business dates back 125 years, to a time when British colonial administrators wanted homemade meals they knew their foreign stomachs could safely handle.

For office workers feeling the economic pinch, Indian women's magazines and talk shows are recommending the dabbawala over debt.

"There's so many more tiffins these days. We can't be late and let down the newcomers. So we have to work really quickly," said Shinde, 32, a third-generation dabbawala whose clientele has doubled in the past three months. "I thought about computer classes. But I stayed with this. I heard there were no jobs. Plus, my customers are always happy to see me."

In the late 1990s, India's burgeoning economy unleashed an explosion of street-food stalls, air-conditioned cafes and international fast-food chains. Suddenly, young Indians wanted lattes with their lentils. The chains successfully Indianized just about every cuisine imaginable: Think masala muffins or McDonald's Chicken Maharaja Mac, two grilled chicken patties with smoke-flavored mayonnaise on a sesame seed bun. Going out to lunch became a status symbol among India's emerging middle class.

Now such spending seems reckless. The engine is slowing, and to many people here, that's not all bad.

"The dabbawalas are part of a culture, an era in India, where frugality and an authentic taste of home were very serious virtues," said Harish Shetty, a prominent psychiatrist in Mumbai. "We all predicted that this would die out. What young person would want to be a dabba in the heat and traffic? What young person wants to bring their lunch to work in India's version of a brown bag? But we were wrong. Now in times of recession, we are finding the old ways still work. That's very comforting."

But the dabbawala revival is not just a matter of rupee-pinching. The lunch deliveryman has recently become a pop-culture icon, with a cult status built on nostalgia for old-time Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay. A retro-looking dabbawala appears on coffee mugs and coasters. Psychedelic posters show a white-uniformed dabbawala dreaming of hundreds of tiffins, which swirl around his Gandhi topi, or trademark white cap. There's even an online video game in which players are given a map of an Indian city and must deliver food on time.

In 2006, when more and more urban professionals were dining out or eating lunch at corporate cafeterias, Manish Tripathi, a software engineer, set up a Web site and text-messaging service to boost business for dabbawalas. He was quickly adopted as an honorary dabbawala, because most of the lunchbox carriers aren't computer literate.

But it wasn't until the economic crisis that tiffin services reported a surge in customers not only in Mumbai, but also in Chennai, New Delhi and Bangalore, especially among university students and young workers at high-tech companies.

"The increase in the clientele of dabbawalas . . . is spreading so quickly because people realize they have to return to wholesome, home-cooked food at cheaper rates," said Mohit Satyanand, an economist. "The tiffin is a survivor. It's trendy again."

In Chennai, Geetha Mehta, a housewife-turned-caterer, has become a national celebrity, featured on TV food programs for starting a service that provides an evening tiffin of healthful snacks to students and white-collar employees working into the night.

"We thought these tiffins were for our grandparents. But these days, beggars can't be choosers. Because we have a monthly allowance, we eat out much less than before," said Apurva Yadav, 19, an economics major at Delhi University who recently started using the service.

Though some clients use caterers, in most cases wives, mothers, sisters or domestic cooks assemble lunches for family members in homes throughout Mumbai every morning. Starting at 7 a.m., the dabbawalas pick up the lunches and sort them by destination. From 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., the deliverymen travel the city's railways, the backbone of the system.

Mumbai's railways are so crowded and the commutes so long that the dabbawalas have their own train cars. Outside the stations, they sort the lunchboxes by color-coding or by numbers written on the lids. Then they take off, sometimes on a bicycle, more often on foot.

At 12:15, they take a five-minute chai break, highly unusual in South Asia, where drinking tea is seldom quick. Then they are off again, running through the streets, up and down stairs, delivering lunches.

Sitting in a one-room office in Mumbai, Raghunath D. Medge, president of the Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Charity Trust, as the dabbawalas' organization is formally known, proudly displays a gold-plated tiffin on his desk.

"Our dabbawalas don't drink alcohol. They don't waste time. They, in fact, wage a war against time," he said. "You see this modern Mumbai life, it's an artificial life. People miss the old ways. In India, life will change. But the good parts, like a home-cooked lunch, should stay."

Special correspondent Ria Sen in New Delhi contributed to this report.




This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.