THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XIII, Issue # 101, April 26, 2011
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
SCARING MOTHERS & OTHERS -- THE BPA FILE, PART FOUR
By Alan Caruba
ENVIRONMENTALISM, CHEMOPHOBIA, & BISPHENOL-A: THE EFFORT OF RADICAL ENVIRONMENTALISTS TO
DEFAME BPA & SCARE AMERICAN CONSUMERS & OTHERS AROUND THE WORLD INTO SUPPORTING THE CAMPAIGNS TO
BAN BPA & ANYTHING MADE FROM PLASTIC -- ANTI-BPA ACTIVISTS & PROPAGANDISTS CATERING TO OTHER, MORE
SINISTER AGENDAS & USING FEAR TO ADVANCE THEM -- DEMONIZING BPA & PUTTING HUMAN HEALTH AT FAR GREATER
RISK
FULL STORY:
In a revealing article in the April, 2011, issue of The Atlantic, “Beyond BPA: Could ‘BPA-Free’ Products Be Just
as Unsafe?” the effort to scare American consumers and others around the world comes full circle. In essence, the people
and organizations behind campaigns to ban bisphenol-A (BPA) and anything made from plastic exist to frighten
everyone about everything.
From the snake oil salesmen who pitched their phony medicines in the days of the early West to today’s purveyors of
fear about a wide range of chemicals that protect health and extend life, the key element remains the same; they lie to
enrich themselves.
As John Entine wrote in an article, “Scared to Death”, “When it comes to stories on socalled toxic substances, the
public discourse seems infected by a malady worse than microscopic residues: chemophobia.”
“Webster’s Dictionary defines chemophobia as the irrational belief that ‘chemicals’ are bad and ‘natural’ things
are good. Labeling a chemical ‘toxic’ or a ‘contaminant’ is meaningless. Toxicity is a question of degree, exposure is
different from effect.”
In plain terms, our bodies are designed to process and excrete all manner of things we breathe or ingest. Our bodies are,
in fact, chemical factories that produce chemicals to protect and maintain their functions while, at the same time,
removing what it does not require.
A massive campaign has been underway for several years to demonize bisphenol-A, BPA, a chemical in use for more
than 50 years to line cans and plastic containers for the precise purpose of protecting their contents against
contamination up to and including botulism, a lethal food-borne disease.
One might think that more than a half-century of its use without any evidence that it poses any harm would be sufficient
to support its use, but liars who defame BPA are catering to other, more sinister agendas and fear is the means they use
to advance them.
In a lengthy analysis available on Junkscience.com, it is noted that “BPA is one of the best tested substances” and has
“been evaluated by regulatory bodies around the world” that found that:
• BPA is not carcinogenic or mutagenic
• BPA does not adversely effect reproduction or development at any realistic dose
• BPA shows weak estrogenic effects only at extremely high dose levels never reached in daily life
• BPA is efficiently ‘metabolized’ and rapidly excreted after oral exposure.
A primary target for the scare campaigns waged against BPA are women and, in particular, pregnant woman and mothers
of infants. The product most targeted is plastic baby bottles.
Countless articles have been published in magazines, newspapers, and on Internet sites and blogs devoted to
“environmental” topics and health issues that “report” various clinical studies, all purporting that BPA represents a great
risk to women.
Women unfamiliar with the scientific process are particularly vulnerable to reports that a small study of few females “may”
or “could” or “might” reflect a connection between BPA and the alleged results, particularly if they are reported in medical
journals that routinely publish such studies. The language of such studies is always couched in vague terminology such as
indications of a “strong association” with the condition cited. In real life terms, this is meaningless.
Other reports exhibit both ignorance and bias such as a Huffington Post article that asserted “There’s no ‘Safe’
Plastic, Already!” Such a claim is absurd on its face. Lacking any basis in fact, the author claimed that “the latest science
shows that plastics are really, really bad news,” ignoring the fact that plastic containers of food and drink are ubiquitous.
The claim itself sounds like it came from an ignorant child.
The sheer numbers involving plastic bottles should indicate their use is safe. For example, nine billion gallons of bottled
water are sold every year in the United States. That’s 50 billion bottles. If they posed a health threat, it would be evident,
but they do not, nor do the huge numbers of baby bottles, but expectant and new mothers are repeatedly told they
should be avoided, especially by manufacturers who trumpet the news they do not use BPA.
A report in the Los Angeles Times claimed that eating canned food poses a health threat, repeating the tired and
extensively disputed claims about BPA. The study, however, was released by two environmentalist groups that thrive on
scare campaigns, the Breast Cancer Fund and the Silent Spring Institute. Out of hundreds of thousands of families in the
U.S.A., the study was based on just five!
What is not reported is the fact that modern science can detect infinitesimal amounts of any chemical substance and it is
the fact that they are so small means they represent no threat. As always, it is the amount of exposure that determines
hazard and mere “trace” amounts that can only be detected in a laboratory represent a phantom hazard.
In the end, telling new mothers and everyone else that they should not eat or drink anything from a can or bottle
protected by BPA is, in fact, to put them, their babies, and everyone else at a far greater risk.
Editor's Note: Parts One through Three of The BPA File are available on the "Warning Signs" blog.
------------------------------------------
© Alan Caruba, 2011
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Science, Ethics, & Human Health:
Human Health & Public Policy
Political Environmentalism Versus Human Progress & Prosperity:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
Alan Caruba writes a daily post at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com. An author, commentator and business and science writer,
he is the Founder of the National Anxiety Center, a clearinghouse for information about media-driven "scare campaigns" designed
to influence public opinion and public policy.
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity