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Health See other Health Articles Title: Bernie Sanders joins bill to ban chemical BPA from children's food containers after Chinese Study Senator Sanders joins bill to ban chemical BPA from children's food containers after Chinese Study Senator Bernie Sanders has joined a handful of lawmakers in an attempt to ban a controversial chemical from children's food and beverage containers. A study released this week revealing the harmful effects of bisphenol A, or BPA, on Chinese factory workers indicated that the chemical causes sexual problems in men. The study was published in Journal Human Reproduction and funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which is a division of the Centers for Disease Control. A CNN headline read 'Study links BPA in plastics to erectile dysfunction', and noted the Food and Drug Administration's previous findings, which claimed that "the agency issued a draft assessment on the safety of BPA in food packaging, concluding that "an adequate margin of safety exists for BPA at current levels of exposure" from those sources." Last year, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) U.S. Lawmakers Move to Ban BPA from Food, Beverage Containers. In 2007, EGW announced the results of a study they had initiated on BPA: "Independent laboratory tests found a toxic food-can lining ingredient associated with birth defects of the male and female reproductive systems in over half of 97 cans of name-brand fruit, vegetables, soda, and other commonly eaten canned goods. The study was spearheaded by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) and targeted the chemical bisphenol A (BPA), a plastic and resin ingredient used to line metal food and drink cans. There are no government safety standards limiting the amount of BPA in canned food." The study goes on to list the various toxic effects of BPA, which included 'permanent changes to genital tract', 'increased aggression at 8 weeks of life', 'increased prostate weight', 'decrease antioxidant enzymes', and many others. They found that "BPA is at unsafe levels in one of every 10 servings of canned foods (11%) and one of every 3 cans of infant formula (33%)". Other dangerous levels were found in cans of soup (11%), pasta (33%) and vegetables (29%). Studies outlining the negeative effects of BPA have been around for some time, although not widely recognized by the general public: BPA Chemical Leaches From Hard Plastic Drinking Bottles Into The Body, Study Shows Avoid Bisphenol-A In Bottles and Cans Chemicals Can Disrupt Hormones A Senate bill titled S 753- BPA-Free Kids Act of 2009 was introduced on March 31, 2009 by Senator Schumer and Feingold, "To prohibit the manufacture, sale, or distribution in commerce of children's food and beverage containers composed of bisphenol A, and for other purposes." The legislation's status page reports that the bill "was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation". The bill goes on to outline "The term `bisphenol A' means the chemical compound phenol, 4,4-(1-methylethylidine)bis, propane (CAS No. 80-05-7)". No other action had been taken on the bill, other than Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York being added as a co-sponsor on April 29, 2009 . Yesterday, November 10, Berni Sanders of Vermont was added as a co-sponsor: "At the request of Mr. SCHUMER, the name of the Senator from Vermont (Mr. SANDERS) was added as a cosponsor of S . 753 , a bill to prohibit the manufacture, sale, or distribution in commerce of children's food and beverage containers composed of bisphenol A, and for other purposes." Updates to the bill can be found on it's status page. Sanders is also spearheading an effort with Ron Paul to audit the federal reserve. Note that while the Senate bill proposes a ban for use only in "children's food and beverage containers", a more comprehensive version appears to be stalled in the House, with the words "To ban the use of bisphenol A in food and beverage containers" included in the bill. Congressman Ed Markey of Massachusetts, who had supported a Chicago ban on the sale of baby bottles made with BPA, introduced the "Ban Poisonous Additives Act of 2009" in March 2009. If passed, section (c) Waiver (1) of the bill includes a waiver, stating "the Secretary of health and Human Services after public notice and opportunity for comment, may grant any facility a waiver of the treatment .. if such a facility demonstrates that it is not technologically feasible to replace Bisphenol A in such a type of container for such particular food product , and.. submits.. a plan and timeline for removing bpa". It goes on to state that any such product that is granted waiver "shall display a prominent warning on the label... which shall ensure adequate public awareness of potential health effects". The waiver "shall be valid for not longer than 1 year, and the secretary may renew any waiver for no more than 1 year". Section e of the congressional version goes on to state that "nothing in this act shall affect the right of a state ..to adopt or enforce any regulation.. that is more stringent." Following is some more info on BPA from the Environmental Working Group study; highly recommended reading: BPA testing in canned food. We contracted with a national analytical laboratory to test 97 cans of food we purchased in March 2006 in three major, chain supermarkets in Atlanta, Georgia; Oakland, California; and Clinton, Connecticut. The lab tested 30 brands of food altogether, 27 national brands and 3 store brands. Among the foods we tested are 20 of the 40 canned foods most commonly consumed by women of childbearing age (NHANES, 2002), including soda, canned tuna, peaches, pineapples, green beans, corn, and tomato and chicken noodle soups. We also tested canned infant formula. The lab detected BPA in fifty-seven percent of all cans. http://www.ewg.org/reports/bisphenola ...BPA is a heavily produced industrial compound that has been detected in more than 2,000 people worldwide, including more than 95 percent of 400 people in the United States. More than 100 peer-reviewed studies have found BPA to be toxic at low doses, some similar to those found in people, yet not a single regulatory agency has updated safety standards to reflect this low-dose toxicity. FDA estimates that 17% of the U.S. diet comprises canned food; they last examined BPA exposures from food in 1996 but failed to set a safety standard.
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#1. To: Artisan (#0)
it's getting so that anything store bought is poisonous.
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