[Stitcher]

FDA: Controversial chemical in plastics is safe

Friday, August 15, 2008
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/08/15...ref=rss_health

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Despite ongoing safety concerns from parents, consumer groups and politicians, a chemical used in baby bottles, canned food and other items is not dangerous, federal regulators said Friday.

Food and Drug Administration scientists said the trace amounts of bisphenol A that leach out of food containers are not a threat to infants or adults. The plastic-hardening chemical is used to seal canned food and make shatterproof bottles. It is also used in hundreds of household items, ranging from sunglasses to CDs.

The FDA's draft report was greeted with enthusiasm by the American Chemistry Council, which has defended the chemical's safety.

"FDA is the government agency we rely upon to assess food-contact products. They've assessed this issue in great detail and their conclusion is very reassuring," said Steve Henges, an executive director with the council.

But environmental groups were quick to criticize the agency's conclusions, which they said relied on industry-funded studies.

"It's ironic FDA would choose to ignore dozens of studies funded by [the National Institutes of Health] -- this country's best scientists -- and instead rely on flawed studies from industry," said Pete Myers, chief scientist for Environmental Health Sciences.

The FDA report is the latest in a growing pile of assessments of bisphenol, which has been used to package food for decades.

READ article

[jcitron]

I heard about this on NPR the other day. So what else is new with an impartial adminstration that favors big corporations over the safety of the rest of the population. Again, the FDA has been stacked with political stooges that go along with business interests.

John

[ol'cs]

that the amount of "leaching" of "bisphenol A" is not immediately harmful; if the people who make the polymer do it right. It has to be completely consumed in the polymerization reaction, there has to be little or none of the material "half reacted", because polycarbonates can and do go decomposition under certain environmental conditions. In other words, if a very good cross polymerization has been accomplished in the manufacturing production, there will be no "free" bisphenol A hanging around, it will all be part of the polymer structure.
So it depends what they are testing. If i can smell or taste bisphenol A residues present in a badly reacted batch of plastic water bottles, i WON"T drink out of them. Bisphenol A is a hormone mimic, and by itself is a cancer causing suspect.

[Ronhutton]

Hi Ol CS,
I agree completely with your comments, if bisphenol A is reacted into a polymer such as a polycarbonate.
However, it is also used in polymers such as PVC as an antioxidant, where it is free, not reacted in, and can be leached out. I used to work for a company who made plastic additives for PVC, and bisphenol A was a popular additive for food use grades of PVC. It was however used in very low amounts.
Best wishes
Ron

[reverett123]

One problem is that with things like this, tiny doses over extended time periods can be far more dangerous that a single large exposure. Your body can deal with the latter and move on but the former prevents such a strategy.

[rosebud]

We can only become informed,or not, then make a decision in our own lives as to how we are going to deal with it, I offer the following for your consideration.

1. go crazy and throw every piece of plastic in your house out the door. And while your at it throw out every cleaning supply you own that couldn't be used as salad dressing in an emergency.

2. Take stock of your plastic dependancy. I use plastic drinking bottles with internal heavy duty straws that are all run through the dishwasher from time to time. I try to keep the water in them fresh. I use tap water (I believe in the build immunity thru community philosophy...in other words the community of bacteria that I consume in the tapwater is actualy building up my resistance to the inceasing levels of toxicity in the public water system.) Makes sense don't you think?

3. The biggest offenders can be identified by looking at the bottom of your water bottle for the triangle symbol with the number 7 in it. Some toothbrush handles may also contain bisphenol whateveritis. Chewing sand is a much more natural way to clean your teeth.

4. I've already got PD...how much worse can it get? We're all gonna kick the bucket sooner or later. In the meantime Im going to go to the bakery, buy a pan of fudge brownies (tinfoil pan! ) and a gallon of high fat milk and sit in front of the TV set close enough to benefit from the radiation it gives off and eat as much as I can hold! Who wants to come to my house??

Do I sound bitter and twisted. or am I just incredibly enlightened? Who cares?

May we all live long enough to witness the second coming and whatever comes after it.

Cheers ...Joy

This rant is endorsed by Barak O'Bama (yes -he is actually Irish) & the McCain Chocolate Cake Coalition for a Saner America. Oh ya, you don't get McCain Chocolate cakes in the States. They are the BEST!

[ol'cs]

have been a boon and a bane to humankind. Even the plastics of the future won't be free of nasties like bisphenol A, they will just find other chemicals to use that will be approved by the powers that be, and then withdrawn after the long term dangers have been proven, and of course after the producing company has made it's billions, and just says , sorry, my bad!
Ron, do you remember MOCA (methylene-bis-ortho chloro aniline) a cross linker of polyurethane polyols? I worked for a research company after high school in 1974, and the only tox question i was asked was " are you allegic to MOCA?). How was an 18 year old kid suppossed to know the toxicology of a chemical he couldn't even pronounce? And how do you feel i thought when transferring large amonts of MOCA from a barrel that had " CARCINOGEN" with an extra skull and cross bones on it, which was hopefuly a "universal" sign that the contents could kill you?
Rosebud, you have given us a bit about who you are and how you live. You are as bitter and as critical as any of the best of us. It is obvious that ou are not going through a good time. All i have to say (with truly the most respect), is "welcome to the club" . WE are all hurtin'; some of us to the point of REALLLY committting suicide. Please try to find a way to live on, that's what all my friends tell me. Although WE feel like packing it in sometimes, something once told me to hang on, untill the sword is plunged into our ribs and all that comes out is water. Then we can dissociate our worries and pain from this world.

[lou_lou]

I know that crawling is gettiing old for me too - but when I can -
I have amazing good energy still...

Howard sent me a story about a doctor that was dxd w/ PD!
this is from NWPD org
http://www.nwpf.org/News.aspx?Item=2427

there is an excerpt there...


Life in the Balance. by Dr Thomas B Grayboys. MD
Life in the Balance: A Physician’s Memoir of Life, Love and Loss with Parkinson’s Disease and Dementia

Northwest Parinson's Foundation - The heartfelt account of Thomas B. Graboys, MD, Life in the Balance: A Physician’s Memoir of Life, Love and Loss with Parkinson’s Disease (Union Square Press) is brutally honest and direct. This poignant and unflinching memoir follows Dr. Graboys, a nationally renowned Boston cardiologist, as he leads us through his beautifully told narrative of his daily battle with Parkinson’s and Lewy Body disease.

At the age of 49, Dr. Graboys had reached the pinnacle of his career and was leading a charmed life. Popular for his attention to the hearts and souls of his patients, Graboys was part of the "The Cardiology Dream Team" summoned to treat Boston Celtics star Reggie Lewis after he collapsed on the court in 1993. He had a beautiful wife, two wonderful daughters, and positions on both the faculty of Harvard Medical School and the staff of Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and a thriving private practice.

Today, Dr. Graboys can no longer see patients or give rounds. He is stooped, and shuffles when he walks, the gait of a man much older than his 63 years, as he battles a particularly aggressive form of Parkinson’s disease and progressive dementia. And, although he is now remarried to a lovely woman, he lost the mother of his children to cancer in 1998. Despite the physical, mental and emotional toll he battles daily, his story is a testament to the fact that he is still a healer. More than just a personal account, Life in the Balance is another avenue for him to continue his life-long mission of caring for the world one human being at a time, by telling his story so that others may find comfort, inspiration, or validation in their own struggles.

According to Rabbi Harold Kushner, author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Dr. Tom Graboys’ Life in the Balance is "Beautifully written, searingly honest, [a book that] lets us see the impact of serious illness on a man who is both a doctor and a patient."

and ABC has a longer interview -
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/Sto...5237946&page=4

[rosebud]

(to me, at least) to post something "off the wall" and then go back the next day and read what follows. I usually write the most amusing ones when I am tired and feeling light of spirit in a darkish way. Something in the back of my head kicks in and it's just all madness around me I see. Tena, the book you talked about in your post...is it available on Amazon?

Don't worry CS...I rarely have thoughts of suicide, but do often consider murdering someone. One side of the spectrum is neurotic (it's all my fault)
and the other side of the spectrum indicates "personality disorder" (it's all the other guys fault). I identify with the personality disorder side of the spectrum


The interesting thing is that we all reach a point where we do not want to maintain the status quo, so somebody has to get out of Dodge. Then the Dali LLama drops in to tell us we can all share our space in peace and love!
Ya know, somedays I'm just not in the mood. Usually when I'm tired and wanting a pan of brownies all to myself. Thats when these posts appear.

Bisphenalwhatever, is such a good example of getting caught up in the thick of thin things. The world is so complex and so crazy and moving so fast I believe PD may be the only thing that causes some of us to slow down our lives and ponder: "What the heck is this really all about?"
(I truly love this icon)

cheers J








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