Plastics industry threatened by new research

by DENNIS GEISINGER

MN State Senator Sandy Rummel “Safer Baby Products” bill passed, and now needs the governor’s signature to become law.

“Yes,” confirmed State Sen. Sandy Rummel to Southside Pride on May 7, “the provision banning BPA (Bisphenol A) from children’s products was removed from the “Safer Baby Products Bill.”

However, the bill, which passed late in the evening of May 7, still contains a proposal to phase out phthalates from products made of plastic geared toward children under the age of 3, and to phase out the toxic flame retardant deca-BDE. The “Safer Baby Products” bill is part of the Public Health Omnibus Bill in the House with bipartisan support and a final count of 93-39. The Senate approved it in a 45-20 vote.

By the time this story has gone to press, Gov. Pawlenty will have chosen whether to sign the Public Health Omnibus Bill as presented or to reject it.
Rummel’s bill, introduced this year to ban the use of the plastics additives BPA and phthalates from baby products, didn’t get past the Senate’s Business, Industry and Jobs Committee because of reservations held by some senators about the strength of scientific evidence regarding adverse health effects in children exposed to BPA, according to Rummel.

“I think that not enough senators were aware of the risks imposed by BPA,” Rummel said.

But a companion bill with a similar ban in the House, authored by Rep. Karen Clark (DFL-Minneapolis), was able to advance to conference committee. In order to reach a vote before the full Legislature, according to Rummel, language containing the BPA ban was taken out of that bill. Both BPA and phthalates are used in plastic baby products like bottles, toys and teethers. Both substances have been found in studies to disrupt normal reproduction and development when ingested by humans.

“It was one of those things done in the spirit of compromise,” said Rummel. “There was much more acceptance that the phthalates issue is well established,” Rummel said.

Phthalates are a group of chemicals used in the manufacture of plastics to prolong their lifespan or durability and increase their flexibility. In March, according to an article appearing in the Washington Independent, an amendment added by Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) to a federal bill overhauling the Consumer Products Safety Commission would ban phthalates from all children’s toys and products. That bill is also in committee.

The European Union has prohibited the use of phthalates in children’s toys since 1999. California passed legislation banning the substance last year and a reported nine other states are contemplating a similar prohibition.
Pressure by the plastics industry to downplay certain scientific studies that warn against the negative health effects of BPA and phthalates and to lobby against laws that would restrict their use has been intense. Plastics industry trade association, the American Chemistry Council (ACC), decried the airing of an April “Consumer Alert”on NBC’s Today Show concerning the safety of plastics, plastic bottles and, in particular, BPA.

“This story was full of inaccuracies which [we] brought to NBC’s attention,” according to an ACC press release. “The next day ... NBC made a bad situation worse by further confusing the issue, repeating many of the same inaccuracies, and giving consumers additional bad information. NBC owes the public and scientific community an apology—and the public deserves to be told the truth,” said the ACC.

“The ACC and its member companies pride ourselves on sound science,” said Tiffany Harrington, Director of Public Affairs for, the American Chemistry Council. “And we believe science is the foundation for sound policy and chemical management,” Harrington said.

According to figures from Harrington’s group, Minnesota had 25,000 plastics industry jobs and plastics shipments totaling $6.3 billion in 2006. That same year, again citing its own figures, the ACC spent $2,886,938 lobbying for chemical and related manufacturing.

A representative of the International Formula Council, an international trade association for manufacturers and marketers of formulated nutrition products, testified before the same Business, Industry and Jobs Committee that tabled Rummel’s bill, stating that current scientific literature did not justify a prohibition of BPA and that sufficient information on the safety and utility of alternatives is lacking.

“While I believe the circumstances related to phthalates warrant taking action now, I do not believe that addressing this type of concern in the Legislature on a chemical by chemical, product by product basis is the best or most effective way to make chemical policy in California,” said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in a Reuters release that appeared after the California ban was signed into law.
“Gov. Pawlenty expressed his concerns about the ban on BPA when we met with him, since it was the most contentious chemical named in the bill,” said Lindsay Dahl, representative of local health advocacy group Healthy Legacy. “He said, in general, he dislikes regulation,” said Dahl.

“I can’t speak to the governor’s preferences,” State Sen. Rummel said. Pawlenty’s office had not responded to questions about the governor’s support, or lack thereof, of a ban on BPA by the time this story went to press.