THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XIII, Issue # 26, January 26, 2011
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
DEMONIZING BISPHENOL-A: THE BPA FILE, PART ONE
By Alan Caruba
BISPHENOL-A, HUMAN HEALTH, & THE ENVIRONMENTALIST MOVEMENT: BISPHENOL-A UNDER HORRENDOUS &
UNRELENTING ATTACK BY A VARIETY OF ENVIRONMENTALIST & SOCALLED CONSUMER ADVOCACY GROUPS -- AN EXPOSE
OF THE INTERNATIONAL SCARE CAMPAIGN DIRECTED AGAINST BPA, A CHEMICAL THAT HAS BEEN IN SAFE USE,
PROTECTING PEOPLE'S HEALTH, FOR OVER FIFTY YEARS
FULL STORY:
In July, 2010, I wrote a commentary about Bisphenol-A, more commonly called BPA. It is a chemical that has been in
wide, safe use for over 50 years, but has come under a horrendous and unrelenting attack by a variety of specious
environmental and consumer groups.
Out of curiosity mostly, I initiated a Google Alert earlier this month to inform me whenever BPA was mentioned in a
news story on the Web. Within three weeks I received 20 alerts, almost one a day, and each contained notifications on
15 to 25 different article references. That’s just nuts!
Why are Americans being bombarded in the space of a single month with more than 400 articles in magazines, in
newspapers and on the Internet, articles that are designed to frighten people into thinking that a good, safe thing is a
bad thing?
It piqued my curiosity and prompted me to dig deeper. It seems that finding out who is behind these attacks on BPA,
none of which has any credible science to support their claims, is proving to be a real detective game.
The result is that I have decided to follow the BPA story on a periodic basis in order to track and report how this
classic scare campaign is maintained and spread. My research and writings will appear in “The BPA File,” a series that
will ultimately be published on the website of The National Anxiety Center. It will appear monthly and elsewhere in
places where readers have grown accustomed to seeing my writings.
I founded The National Anxiety Center in 1990 as a clearinghouse for information about just such scare campaigns and
this fresh examination of BPA will be published alongside previous works including, “The Subversion of Education in
America” and “The Enemies of Meat,” as well as the archive of commentaries written before I began my daily blog,
“Warning Signs.”
The reason for this new series is that we have already seen any number of beneficial chemicals and products targeted
in this fashion, often to be driven from the marketplace by class action lawsuits or banned by federal agencies and
states.
Classic examples range from Alar and DDT to saccharine, all of which came under withering criticism from questionable
sources using junk science, yet all of which have been proved over time to be perfectly safe and harmless when
properly used. The same is happening today with BPA.
When the American Council on Science and Health, a consumer advocate group, listed “The Top Ten Unfounded
Health Scares of 2010,” number one on its list was BPA. The ACSH wrote, “Bisphenol-A has been in use for over five
decades in the manufacturing of certain life-saving medical devices, as well as in baby and water bottles, dental devices,
eyeglass lenses, DVDs and CDs, and other electronics.”
BPA also plays an important role in maintaining a healthy food supply. “In addition,” said the ACSH, “it (BPA) has
been used to coat the inside of nearly all metal food cans to protect consumers against deadly diseases like botulism.”
If activists are successful in their pressure campaigns to ban BPA, my fear is that less-tested and less-safe alternatives
will be forced upon unsuspecting consumers.
Here’s a simple question. If any of the charges against BPA are true, why then – in more than 50 year’s time! – has there
been no direct connection drawn between BPA and the disease conditions claimed by anti-chemical activists? Answer:
Because none has ever been established through reliable scientific testing.
Human beings are chemical-processing machines. That’s what our bodies do all day, every day. We live longer,
healthier lives precisely because of the discovery and use of chemicals, many of which exist solely to enhance our health
and well-being.
Ultimately, as any chemist, pharmacist, or physician will tell you, “The poison is in the dose.” It is the amount of
exposure and the route of exposure that determines whether something is harmful or not. Perhaps, the best example of
this ancient axiom is water. Too much and you can drown in it. Too little and you will suffer dehydration.
The same holds true for other chemicals, many of which are found in nature. Most crops produce their own pesticides to
protect against natural predators and the human race has been ingesting trace elements of these chemicals since the
dawn of humanity, along with the fruits and vegetables we know to be healthy elements of our diet. The amounts,
however, are so miniscule – parts per billion – that they pose no threat.
This exact pattern exists with BPA as well; the socalled "endocrine disruptor" we’re so breathlessly warned about in BPA
is identical to a chemical found in soy products like tofu and soy sauce, soy milk, and other related products. Strangely,
we’re not hearing panicked cries to banish vegetarian food, Chinese carry-out, and alternative dairy products for the
lactose-intolerant from American society.
So, with Part One of The BPA File, we shall begin an investigative journey that will, I promise, astonish you with the
brazenness of a global campaign of lies intended to actually endanger your life by denying you the benefits of this
particular chemical.
------------------------------------
© Alan Caruba, 2011
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Political Environmentalism Versus Human Progress & Prosperity:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
Science, Ethics, & Human Health:
Human Health & Public Policy
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 "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