Media Advisory for Wednesday, May 12, 1999
Contact: Lisa Magnino, Molly Lovett, Fenton Communications, 202/822-5200Press Conference, Wednesday, May 12, 1999, 9:30 a.m.
Consumer, Public Health, Religious and Environmental Groups Call for Immediate Removal of Potentially Harmful Substances From Baby Bottles, Plastic Cling Wrap
Groups Call for Eventual Phase out of Harmful Materials
Newly Identified Studies Show Greater Potential Danger; Industry Studies Flawed
At a press conference on Wednesday, May 12, the National Environmental Trust (NET) and a dozen national consumer, health, religious, and environmental groups will call on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and manufacturers to make all plastic food containers, including baby bottles, safer for children. The request comes in response to new scientific research showing higher levels of chemicals leaching from polycarbonate baby bottles.
NET will review several recent studies that have found bisphenol-A - a chemical that acts like a hormone in the human body and could potentially interfere with normal development leaching out of clear plastic, polycarbonate baby bottles. A study in the May 1999 issue of Consumer Reports found that, when heated, polycarbonate baby bottles released bisphenol-A. A 1997 U.S. FDA study reported similar findings. In addition, newly identified studies conducted in Japan showed higher levels of leaching from older, worn baby bottles. In 1998, Japanese studies on polycarbonate tableware led one Japanese municipality to ban the use of one brand of polycarbonate dishware from primary schools.
It has been known since the 1930s that bisphenol-A acts like the hormone estrogen. It began to be used in polycarbonate plastic in the 1950s. Industry groups recently released new safety studies on bisphenol-A. Scientists will provide information about several flaws in these studies?which have not been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals as well as review studies that suggest that bisphenol-A could have biological effects at extremely low levels.
When: Wednesday, May 12, 1999, 9:30 a.m.
Where: National Press Club, Lisagor Room
Who: Speakers will include:
Dr. Frederick vom Saal, University of Missouri, lead researcher on preeminent bisphenol-A studies.
Dr. David Crews, University of Texas, leading expert on low dose effects.
Dr. Ruth Etzel, pediatrician, Chair, American Acad. of Pediatrics Committee on Environmental Health.
Dr. Peter Hauser, University of Maryland Medical School, leading expert on endocrine disruption effects and brain development.