Industry Sues To Keep BPA Off Toxics List

The American Chemistry Council has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the chemical industry against California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) to stop the agency from listing bisphenol A (BPA) as a reproductive toxicant under the state’s Proposition 65. Prop 65 is a list of chemicals that are known to cause cancer, birth defects, or reproductive harm. California proposed to add BPA, a controversial chemical used to make certain plastics that mimics estrogen, to the list in late January on the basis of a 2008 report by the National Toxicology Program. The report concludes that exposure to high levels of BPA causes developmental toxicity in laboratory animals. In 2009, a panel of independent physicians voted not to add BPA to Prop 65, saying there was not enough evidence to indicate it is harmful to humans. “Respected California scientists, appointed by the governor, thoroughly reviewed the very report cited now by OEHHA, and unanimously concluded that it did not justify listing BPA,” says Steven G. Hentges, executive director of ACC’s Polycarbonate/BPA Global Group.