Are Californians Dumber than Folks in Connecticut?
We don’t think so. But the chemical industry does.
In Connecticut, industry lobbyists thought that they could use fear tactics against a proposed state ban on the toxic plastic ingredient Bisphenol-A (BPA). But fear mongering lost, and the state adopted a ban, joining five other states, Vermont, Wisconsin, Washington, Maryland, Minnesota (not to mention the city of Chicago and four counties in New York state).
Despite their defeat in Connecticut, the industry is continuing its fear-based tactics in California. That’s why we need smart Californians to speak out against their phony fear campaign and tell the state Assembly to stand up for our children’s health!
The chemical makers lobbying group the American Chemistry Council has spent over $5 million influencing Sacramento, claiming that BPA is safe and its use should be allowed in products like baby bottles and sippy cups. The chemical industry had hoped to find a pregnant mother willing to speak about her willingness to douse her baby with a potentially harmful chemical, but oddly none stepped forward. They looked for a reputable scientist who would agree that BPA was safe and irreplaceable, but again no luck.
So instead, the chemical industry decided to dump large funds of money into scare-tactic advertising. Their full-page newspaper ads depict an empty shopping cart in a desert, suggesting that banning BPA would leave grocery shelves bare (despite zero evidence for this claim, and in the face of several large food companies who have successfully eliminated BPA).
They also claim that mothers in low income communities rely on baby formula, and that a ban would make it impossible for poor mothers to feed their babies. In fact, a spokeswoman for California’s state formula give-away program noted that 96 percent of poor mothers in the program use powder formula, which is already BPA free.
California’s proposed BPA ban comes in response to research showing the chemical can damage a baby’s developing brain, as well as the FDA’s call for more research because it has “some concern” about the chemical. But the industry, allied with some baby formula makers and grocers, want to continue using our children as guinea pigs in their nasty chemical experiments.
Don’t let them! Take action today to end the use of BPA in baby products.