Coke, BPA, and the limits of ‘green capitalism’

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By Tom Philpott

GRIST

"Coca-Cola goes green," announced a 2010 Forbes article. Indeed, the beverages giant maintains partnerships with Big Green groups like Conservation International andWorld Wildlife Fund. It recently even completed its takeover of Honest Tea, an organic bottled-tea company. It would clearly like to be seen as a paragon of "green capitalism" -- the idea that doing good and doing well go hand in hand.

Let's put aside questions over what can possibly be "green" about a business model geared to sucking in huge amounts of drinking water, blasting it with what are probably toxic sweeteners and other dodgy substances, and then packaging it in little aluminum cans and plastic bottles and sending them far and wide, to be chilled (using fossil energy) before consumption.

OK, so within those tight constraints, Coca-Cola says it wants to be a "green company." So ... WTF? Last week, Coca-Cola shareholders voted by a 3-to-1 margin to continue using BPA, a toxic industrial chemical, in the lining of its soft-drink cans.

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Our Deadly, Daily Chemical Cocktail

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Kristin Wartman

Chemicals and additives found in the food supply and other consumer products are making headlines regularly as more and more groups  raise concern over the safety of these substances. In a statement released yesterday, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) asked for reform to the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976. The group is particularly concerned about the effects these substances have on children and babies.

Last month, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) held hearings on the safety of food dyes but failed to make a definitive ruling—the most recent study on Bisphenol-A (BPA) added to growing doubts about its safety but the FDA’s stance remains ambiguous. Meanwhile, in 2010, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that the FDA is not ensuring the safety of many chemicals.

Yet while the FDA drags its heels and hedges on the safety of these substances, Americans are exposed to untested combinations of food additives, dyes, preservatives, and chemicals on a daily basis. Indeed, for the vast majority of Americans consuming industrial foods, a veritable chemical cocktail enters their bodies every day and according to the GAO report, “FDA is not systematically ensuring the continued safety of current GRAS substances.”

BPA Found On 95% Of Dollar Bills

Joanna Zelman
Huffington Post

Apparently consumers don't have as much control as they thought over avoiding products with bisphenol A (BPA), a hormone-disrupting chemical. What are two items that consumers cannot avoid? Dollar bills and receipts. And that's exactly where BPA is being found, according to a new studyconducted by nonprofit groups Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families and theWashington Toxics Coalition.

The research found large amounts of unbound BPA on half of thermal paper receipts tested. The data suggests that the toxic chemical is easily transferred to our skin. And no, you can't just gingerly grab the receipt and toss it away really fast. In just ten seconds, 2.5 micrograms of BPA are transferred to your fingers.

As for dollar bills, BPA was found on 95 percent of the bills tested. BPA levels were much lower than those found on the receipts, but that doesn't help us rest any easier. Recent research has explored the connection between BPA exposure and various health problems like cancer, and Canada recently became the first country to officially list BPA as a toxic chemical.

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Gender bending chemical Bisphenol A will be banned from baby bottles in EU

Daily Mail

A potentially harmful chemical commonly found in plastic baby bottles is to be banned from their manufacture from next year.

Tests show that Bisphenol A (BPA) can leach from the bottle into any liquid it contains, with potentially damaging results. The organic compound is believed to affect development in young children.

The European Union yesterday approved the ban, which will come into effect in Europe next year.

The chemical is widely used in making hard, clear plastic and is commonly found in food and drink containers. But last month Canada officially classed Bisphonel A as toxic because of its 'biological diversity' and several U.S. manufacturers have voluntarily withdrawn the compound.

EU commissioner John Dalli said: 'There were areas of uncertainty, deriving from new studies, which showed that BPA might have an effect on development, immune response and tumour promotion.

'The decision ... is good news for European parents who can be sure that as of mid-2011 plastic infant feeding bottles will not include BPA.'

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Bisphenol-A now linked to male infertility

A controversial chemical used for decades in the mass production of food containers and baby bottles has been linked to male infertility for the first time.

Richard Alleyne
Telegraph

Bisphenol-A (BPA), known as the "gender bending" chemical because of its connection to male impotence, has now been shown to decrease sperm mobility and quality.

The findings are likely to increase pressure on governments around the world to follow Canada and ban the substance from our shelves.

BPA is used widely to make plastic harder and watertight tin cans.

It is found in most food and drink cans – including tins of infant formula milk – plastic food containers, and the casings of mobile phones, and other electronic goods.

It is also used in baby bottles though this is slowly being phased out.

BPA has been the subject of intense research as it is a known endocrine disrupter which in large quantities interferes with the release of hormones.

Earlier studies have linked it to low sex drive, impotence and DNA damage in sperm.

Now a new five year study claims to have found a link between levels of BPA in the blood and male fertility.

For their study of 514 workers in factories in China, researchers at Kaiser Permanente, a California-based research centre, found that men with higher urine BPA levels were two to four times more at risk of having poor semen quality, including low sperm concentration, low sperm vitality and mobility.

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Dismay over EU decision not to ban baby bottle chemical bisphenol-A

Tom Levitt
The Ecologist

European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) says no convincing evidence to cause it to ban or further restrict
exposure to the controversial chemical bisphenol-A used in plastic bottles and containers

Health campaigners have reacted with dismay after EU officials decided against restricting or banning bisphenol-A (BPA), despite evidence of links to breast cancer.

BPA is a synthetic chemical used to make plastic drinking bottles, baby bottles and storage containers as well as the lining of some food and drink cans. It is applied as a coating to the insides of food cans, which can then be heated to kill off bacteria without the metal in the can contaminating the food contents.

European food safety officials say the current evidence does not provide convincing evidence of the toxicity of BPA.

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