In January, the New York Times reported that the Food and Drug Administration is now willing to look into the health hazards of Bisphenol-A (BPA).¹  Given that BPA is present in the lining of infant formula cans, the article tells us that the FDA recommends that nursing mothers continue breastfeeding for 12 months. But there’s a catch.  The same New York Times article failed to mention that BPA has also been found in breast milk itself, which researchers suspect arrives there via the countless food and beverage containers adults use every day that also contain BPA.²

The effects of BPA are potentially serious and long lasting, particularly for children whose developing bodies are most vulnerable. Numerous scientific studies have shown that exposures to low doses of BPA during prenatal development and early infancy are associated with genital abnormalities in male babies, early puberty in girls, metabolic disorders such as insulin-resistant (Type 2) diabetes and obesity, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), breast cancer, and infertility in men.³

Until last week, the FDA had declared BPA safe. The New York Times article reported that the FDA is now reversing its position and expressing “some concern about the potential effects of BPA on the brain, behavior and prostate gland of fetuses, infants and children” and will join other federal health agencies in studying the effects of the chemical in both animals and humans.  This leaves mothers in the United States in a classic Catch-22:  feeding breast milk to infants, universally recommended as the healthiest option, may also expose them to toxic BPA. 

Do you recall when fish was a safe and healthy choice for parents to feed their children?  Now, due to mercury contamination, health authorities have relegated fish to only two small servings per week.  When our kids become parents themselves, will the FDA recommend that mothers only give their infants two small servings of breast milk per week due to BPA contamination? 

Urge your Senator to co-sponsor the BPA Act, which would ban the chemical from all food and beverage containers, used by both children and adults, by signing the Momsrising.org petition at http://bit.ly/5fNmpm.   MomsRising is a million-member, multicultural organization which advocates for family health and economic security.  For more information, contact Mary Olivella, Vice-President and Public Health Policy Advisor, at www.momsrising.org.  

1. The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/16/health/16plastic.html

2, 3. The Breast Cancer Fund   http://www.breastcancerfund.org/atf/cf/{DE68F7B2-5F6A-4B57-9794-AFE5D27A3CFF}/BPAandBC_factsheet_120808.pdf