Some of you may have followed the saga of the Toxic-Free Kids Act and BPA Ban that has been ongoing here in the state of Minnesota for a few years now. Healthy Legacy, an advocacy nonprofit out of Minnesota that has worked tirelessly--and I do mean tirelessly--to keep BPA out of baby bottles and sippy cups, and to limit our children's exposure to phthalates can take credit for helping Minnesota become the first state in America to ban, outright, the use of BPA in baby bottles and sippy cups. In addition, the Toxic-Free Kids Act creates a system by which the state must address the problem of toxins found in children's products (a daunting task, one that the FDA has not been up to).
The reason this victory is so sweet is because the last time the Minnesota legislature passed legislation like this, our governor, Tim Pawlenty, vetoed it, for reasons that still remain unclear to me. However, this time, the bill passed again, overwhelmingly, and it when it reached his desk, Pawlenty signed it into law. I applaud him for reversing course on this. I believe he said, last time, that the "science wasn't in." In the year that has passed, the science has proven almost conclusively that Bisphenol-A is leached from baby bottles and sippy cups containing it in amounts that are clearly problematic. In fact, more than 200 studies have shown that even in low doses, BPA is linked to reproductive problems, cancer, heart disease, and neurological issues. As you are probably well aware, the Bush-era FDA found BPA risk-free--but that finding was blasted when it became known that the agency, for some truly bizarre reason, chose to use only American Chemistry Council-funded studies of the chemical. The American Chemistry Council is the industry group for the chemical industry, which has a huge stake in keeping BPA on the market.
The Toxin-Free Kids Act is another groundbreaking piece of legislation. There is currently near-zero federal oversight in the use of new chemicals in household products, including, amazingly, children's products. That's why you end up with formaldehyde in children's bath soap or 1, 4 dioxane. That's why you end up with lead in toys and phthalates in everything from lotions to teething rings. This key piece of legislation, which Pawlenty signed into law, forces the Minnesota Department of Health to evaluate chemicals used in consumer products and gauge their toxicity levels.
What makes all of this so exciting is the push these laws in Minnesota will undoubtedly give Feinstein and Markey's bills in Congress, banning BPA from food and beverage containers.
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