Inside Prevention

How lobbyists are spinning weak science to defend BPA (The Atlantic, 9/27/2011)

The Atlantic has published a must-read article about our BPA in Kids' Canned Food report and the food packaging industry's effort to generate controversy about the formidable body of scientific evidence linking BPA to harm. In particular, industry is pointing to one apparently flawed study to defend its continued use of BPA in food cans:

The chemical industry, NAMPA [the North American Metal Packaging Alliance], and other industry groups have consistently defended the safety of BPA -- and lobbied extensively against its regulation. But that such a flawed study would be published and its findings so misrepresented has outraged prominent members of the scientific community. "Its conclusions are preposterous," says Fred vom Saal, professor of biological sciences at the University of Missouri-Columbia whose research on endocrine hormones dates back to the 1970s.

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In criticizing the Breast Cancer Fund study, NAMPA also said the levels of BPA found in the kids' canned food tested -- an average of 13 to 114 parts per billion -- "are well within the safety recommendations of government agencies." But such levels of BPA, which is known to be biologically active at very low levels of exposure, according to vom Saal, are sufficient "to prompt an entire range of effects." (Read complete article.)

Study: BPA common in kids' canned foods (WebMD, 9/21/2011)

WebMD also covered our BPA in Kids' Canned Food report:

Cans of soup marketed for kids may have a potentially dangerous chemical that's not found on any food ingredient label.

A new report shows some canned soups and meals marketed to children contain the chemical bisphenol A (BPA). All of the products tested positive for the chemical, and Campbell's Disney Princess and Toy Story soups contained the highest levels.

A spokesman for Campbell's says regulatory agencies say the amount of BPA in canned foods doesn't pose a threat to health.

The average level of BPA in the 12 items tested was 49 ppb (parts per billion) and ranged from 10 to 148 ppb. The Environmental Protection Agency's estimate of safe exposure level is 50 ppb per day.

"One serving might be a concern, but a combination of repeated and re-exposure to BPA from cans marketed to kids is a bigger concern," says Connie Engel, PhD, science education coordinator at the Breast Cancer Fund, which conducted the study. (Read complete article.)

New evidence adds to case against bisphenol A (San Francisco Chronicle, 9/21/2011)

An editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle highlights two BPA topics that the Breast Cancer Fund supports: passage of California's Toxin-Free Infants and Toddlers Act (AB 1319), which now awaits Gov. Brown's signature; and our new BPA in Kids' Canned Food report.

The editorial points out that legislation around baby bottles and sippy cups are helpful, but not enough to protect children from BPA exposures:

There is no reason to have that chemical in baby products when safer alternatives are readily available. Brown should sign SB1319 to limit infants' BPA exposure, as 11 states have done in recent years, while lobbyists for the chemical and canning industries have been deflecting California BPA bills in each of the three previous years.

The real issue is whether the California Legislature went far enough. The bill originally would have extended the ban to infant food containers - specifically formula - but that provision was deleted to increase the chances of passage. And even that restriction may have been insufficient to protect children.

A report being released today by the Breast Cancer Fund showed disturbing levels of BPA in canned foods marketed for children. The fund commissioned an independent laboratory testing of a dozen popular canned foods - and all tested positive for the presence of BPA, which is used in the epoxy coatings in the inner lining of cans. (Read complete article.)

BPA in canned foods: Should you worry? (ABC News, 9/21/2011)

Coverage of our BPA in Kids' Canned Food report from ABC News:

BPA, a key ingredient in hard plastics and resins used to coat metal cans, made headlines in 2008 when it was shown to leach out of plastic when heated. The Canadian government responded by banning the chemical from baby bottles. In the United States, the federal government has not followed suit, but several local governments have and leading U.S. baby bottle manufacturers went BPA-free voluntarily. But the chemical continues to line the country's cans.

"I think they're definitely right in trying to get this chemical out of canned foods," said Dr. John Spangler, professor of family and community medicine at Wake Forest School of Medicine. "We can't do anything about past exposures but we can do something about current exposures." (Read complete article.)

BPA for lunch? 6 kid-friendly canned foods that flunked test (CBS News, 9/21/2011)

CBS News created an excellent photo gallery related to our BPA in Kids' Canned Food report. It's available only on the CBS News website; click here or on the photo below to view the whole gallery.

Controversial BPA found in canned kids' foods, report says (MSNBC, 9/21/2011)

Coverage of our BPA in Kids' Canned Food report, from MSNBC:

Breast Cancer Fund researchers tested for bisphenol A (BPA) in six products specifically marketed to children. Included in the list were such popular kid-targeted meals as Campbell’s “Disney Princess" soup with "shaped pasta with chicken in chicken broth” and Annie’s Homegrown certified organic “Cheesy Ravioli."

BPA, which is found in plastics, cash-register receipts, dental sealants and even money, has been linked in animal studies to a host of health ills, including possible cancers and developmental problems and early puberty. (Read complete article.)

SF group's study finds BPA in canned food for kids (KPIX-CBS San Francisco, 9/20/2011)

From San Francisco's CBS station, KPIX-TV:

(Visit KPIX online for complete coverage.)

Kids' Soup Cans Contain BPA Toxins (Discovery News, 9/21/2011)

This today from Discovery News, reporting on our BPA in Kids' Canned Food report:

It doesn't matter how many smiling cartoon characters decorate a package. If food comes in a can, it's likely to contain the worrisome chemical bisphenol A, or BPA, according to a new study.

The study, which looked at six popular name-brand products, adds to accumulating evidence that the hormone-interfering chemical is widespread in our food supply and in the bodies of most Americans, including children.

Advocacy groups have successfully managed to get companies to remove BPA from baby bottles, sippy cups, pacifiers and other products made for small children. The new findings suggest that food cans might need to be their next major target. (Read complete article.)

That last paragraph is critical: we need to convince canned food manufacturers that consumers want BPA out of food, and only safe alternatives considered. You can support this effort right now by asking the makers of the foods we tested for the report to stop marketing BPA to kids.

BPA in canned foods marketed to kids (San Francisco Chronicle blog, 9/21/2011)

Citing a report out today from the Breast Cancer Fund, the San Francisco Chronicle's Victoria Colliver writes on the Chron RX blog:

There's more than just enchanting princess shapes lurking in your kid's Campbell's Disney Princess condensed soup. The folks at San Francisco’s Breast Cancer Fund want you to know there’s also a toxic chemical that doesn’t make the ingredient list along with the modified food starch and soy lecithin. (Read complete article.)

Learn more about the report, including complete product testing results, on our website.

Report uncovers BPA in canned food marketed to kids

It's hard enough having to take your kid to the grocery store without being bombarded by every cartoon character imaginable trying to sell cookies, candy or soda. But I couldn't believe it when I looked over and saw the latest Disney characters and Sesame Street monsters plastered on the cans of food that I knew likely contained the toxic chemical bisphenol A.

This is the estrogenic chemical that I've been trying to avoid in baby bottles, sippy cups and infant formula since the birth of my son a year and a half ago. But while baby bottles are now largely stamped "BPA-free," there's no mention of BPA on most canned foods.

Now the Breast Cancer Fund has uncovered the presence of BPA in these canned foods marketed directly to young kids in our report released today, BPA in Kids' Canned Food. We tested 12 canned food items—two cans of each of six canned meal products—marketed to and largely consumed by children, including:

• Annie's Homegrown Cheesy Ravioli
• Campbell's Disney Princess Cool Shapes, Shaped Pasta with Chicken in Chicken Broth
• Campbell's Spaghettios with Meatballs
• Campbell's Toy Story Fun Shapes, Shaped Pasta with Chicken in Chicken Broth
• Chef Boyardee Whole Grain Pasta, Mini ABC's & 123's with Meatballs
• Earth's Best Organic Elmo Noodlemania Soup 

Every food sample tested positive for BPA, with Campbell's Disney Princess and Toy Story soups testing the highest. Find all our test results here.

Now it's canned foods that are exposing small kids to BPA at similar levels as the baby bottles that have been banned in numerous states and largely driven off of store shelves. What concerns me most is that children may be particularly vulnerable to the effects of hormone-disrupting chemicals like BPA.

There should be no place for toxic chemicals linked to breast cancer and other serious health problems in our children's food. I hope you'll join me today by asking Campbell Soup Company, ConAgra (maker of Chef Boyardee), Annie's Homegrown and Hain Celestial (maker of Earth's Best) to stop marketing BPA to kids in their canned foods.

But we're not stopping there; the Breast Cancer Fund has launched the Cans Not Cancer campaign, creating a national voice to urge canned food manufacturers to replace BPA with a safer alternative.

It's time for moms across the country to unite, just like we have for BPA-free baby bottles and phthalate-free toys, and demand that canned food companies stop marketing this toxic chemical to our kids.