Washington, DC – A new report from the Breast Cancer Fund today finds that pregnant mothers are commonly exposed to the harmful chemical bisphenol-a (BPA) in part as a result of eating canned food. The chemical is linked to hormone disruption, miscarriages and birth defects. While BPA has been removed from baby bottles and canned formula, the industry largely continues to use the substance in other canned products. The chemical industry has fought regulation of BPA, most recently by opposing adding it to a federal “chemicals of concern,’ list. The industry trade group American Chemistry Council called the proposed action “unnecessary.”
Andy Igrejas, executive director of Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families said:
“Breast Cancer Fund has amassed the facts about BPA and pre-natal exposure and they point in only one direction- the urgent need to get BPA out of canned food. The peer-reviewed science clearly shows that the exposure of pregnant women to this chemical is even more important than the exposure to children. Canned food is a major source of that exposure, yet our agencies are hamstrung by weak laws and political pressure from the chemical industry. It’s up to all of us to overcome those forces with public pressure.”