The FDA and Bisphenol A

Earlier this year, the Canadian government put Bisphenol A on its list of toxic substances and started drafting regulations to ban the sale of baby bottles containing the substance. BPA is a chemical that can mimic the hormone estrogen. Its harmful effects are more acute for infants, whose bodies cannot expel the chemical as fast as older children and adults. When the story first broke, the reaction was swift: I remember seeing several news stories about it, and it was next to impossible to find either plastic baby bottles or glass baby bottles in stores - the former because they had been pulled by manufacturers, and the latter because concerned parents had bought them all up because they were "safe."
In the United States, the FDA recently released a report stating that the low doses of BPA that humans get from eating out of plastic containers that contain the chemical are not harmful. This finding has seemingly been controversial, however, with many scientists questioning the initial report. In response, the FDA asked an independent panel to review the findings, and it has found that the margins of safety used by the FDA for BPA are inadequate. Further, the panel said that the FDA failed to consider all of the relevant scientific literature about BPA when it made its initial conclusion. It is not known yet whether or not (or when) the FDA will review its decision on BPA, but the findings of the panel will likely put pressure on the agency to do so. For more information, there is an article on the CBC's website: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/10/29/bpa-fda.html.