Notes from a Desperate Industry

Some heroic soul who attended a brainstorming session between plastics industry executives gave the notes of that meeting to a reporter at the Washington Post. Concerned about the viability of BPA-containing plastics, they apparently huddled for hours and tried to figure out how to keep more states from legislating bans, keep consumers from learning about (or believing)the research that links BPA to a host of negative health effects, and how to essentially keep BPA on the market. The notes are both chilling and pathetic.

An example for how to scare mothers--whom they identified as their key target because of their passionate concern for the health of their babies--was particularly absurd: ask them "do you want to have access to baby food anymore?" This is linked to the potential BPA ban many states are considering for food containers. The industry is even more trouble than one might think if they actually believe this would be an effective strategy. The term "fear tactics" was used in the meeting, unsurprisingly.

One of the more heinous details is this one: "Their 'holy grail' spokesperson would be a 'pregnant young mother who would be willing to speak around the country about the benefits of BPA,' " the notes said."

Words fail me. Read more about this inside baseball on the Washington Post, linked here.