Inside Prevention

Building support for Feinstein's BPA amendment

As we've been reporting, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has been working to amend the Food Safety Modernization Act to include restrictions on the toxic chemical BPA. Days ago, Sen. Feinstein released details of her plan, which focuses on protecting our most vulnerable: infants and toddlers. Her amendment will ban BPA from  baby bottles, sippy cups, infant formula and baby food for children under the age of three.

More than 200 studies have found evidence that BPA exposure at very low doses is linked to a staggering number of health problems, including prostate and breast cancer, obesity, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, altered development of the brain and immune system, lowered sperm counts and early-onset puberty. Scientists are particularly concerned about exposure to BPA during infancy, when children's brains and other organ systems are constantly developing. Any disruption to their hormonal system during development can set the stage for later-life health problems.

Sen. Feinstein's amendment bans the use of this hormone-disruptor in baby bottles and sippy cups within six months and from formula and baby food containers within two years. It also requires the Food and Drug Administration to issue a revised safety assessment for BPA in all food containers by the end of 2012.

Will your senators support this amendment? Ask them in person!

The Senate is on recess until September 14. Consider requesting a meeting with your senators while they're home. If your senator is up for reelection, attend a campaign event. Ask for a commitment to support the amendment.

Or, communicate with your senator via the Breast Cancer Fund's online action center.

Setting the federal research agenda on breast cancer and the environment

Cheers to our president and CEO, Jeanne Rizzo, R.N., who has been named to a brand-new advisory committee that will create a federal research agenda on breast cancer and the environment.

Jeanne will sit alongside 18 others, including advocates, scientists, health professionals and federal representatives from the EPA, National Institutes of Health, CDC, National Cancer Institute, Department of Defense and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

This committee (officially known as the Interagency Breast Cancer and Environmental Research Coordinating Committee, or IBCERCC) will recommend improvements and expansions of federal breast cancer research programs.

What's really exciting about this advisory committee is the opportunity to develop  research plans that cross the various federal agencies charged with researching and protecting public health. Only together can these agencies draw a complete picture of the environmental exposures - and risks - Americans face out in the real world.

"The broad range of expertise and insight of these individuals will ensure the federal research portfolio continues to advance our understanding of the critical links between our environment, our genes, and our health," said Linda Birnbaum, director of NIEHS and the National Toxicology Program (NTP), who will help facilitate the committee.

We're looking forward to seeing their plans for collaborative, innovative research that will help us protect people and reduce the breast cancer risk of generations of women to come.

New studies confirm BPA in receipts, while NY bans chem from baby bottles

Two forms of progress on the bisphenol A front in recent weeks, with the good news first:

On Friday, New York's Gov. Paterson signed into law a ban on BPA in baby bottles, sippy cups, pacifiers and straws. Borrowing from our friends at Clean New York, "New York is now the seventh state - and by far the largest in both population and economy - to pass phase out of BPA in young children's products, joining Connecticut, Maryland, Minnesota, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin."

Kids' exposures to BPA have been a top priority for advocates across the country because their developing bodies are especially sensitive to the chemical's estrogenic effects. With so many states now on board, we're hopeful that Congress will fast-track the issue, too.

And now the less-good news. New tests confirm what we've known but had little data on: BPA is on cash register receipts printed on thermal paper, the type widely used in ATMs, gas pumps, grocery stores and other retailers. Cashiers are particularly at risk.

But as the Washington Post reported last week, there's some good coming of this news. For one, the EPA is pushing register paper suppliers to find alternative coatings that don't contain BPA. And because the largest U.S. supplier of such papers has already ditched BPA, we know it's possible. While upsetting, these new tests could spur quick change that reduces our overall BPA exposure. Every bit counts.