The Tangled Web of Green: Manufacturing a Public Scare

On November 30^th, the same day the Food and Drug Administration was scheduled to issue a statement regarding the long-used plastics additive Bisphenol A (BPA), the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editors urged the agency with the headline “Get on with it!”  They charged that “the agency blew its own self-imposed deadline for issuing a ruling on the safety of the ubiquitous chemical,” and went on to complain that “The FDA is taking more time to have its scientists analyze studies of the chemical’s effects.”

The Milwaukee newspaper, along with the Los Angeles Times health blog, called on Congress to ban the product.  Then, on December 14, the examiner.com reported that Democrat Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand had proposed a bill outlawing the use of BPA in food container linings for infant and toddler food.  Washington, with its Senate vote on Friday, is the latest among several states that are not waiting for federal bans.

But as reported here, in the fall, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) had announced the award of $30 million in research grants, $14 million of which represents Obama administration stimulus money, to study BPA further.

What might account for such odd behavior?  There are enough peculiarities and strange connections to suggest that the media, the academy, and liberal political forces are working together to pursue an ideological agenda—with the help of stimulus funds.

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Tags: Bisphenol A, BPA, Chapel Hill Consensus, Christine Flowers, Chuck Schumer
Posted Feb 5th 2010 at 5:35 am in Environment, Featured Story, Media Criticism, News | 7017024 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/mgrabar/2010/02/05/the-tangled-web-of-green-manufacturing-a-public-scare/The+Tangled+Web+of+Green%3A+Manufacturing+a+Public+Scare2010-02-05+13%3A35%3A40Mary+Grabar

BPA: The Tangled Web of Green

The duplicity surrounding news coverage of bisphenol A, a common and long-used chemical component of plastic, is evidenced by the media’s penchant for lavish coverage of specious claims of danger and a paucity of interest in peer-reviewed research showing no harm from the chemical.  This double standard extends to taxpayer funding of BPA research and raises questions about the pending research.

A particularly curious tale begins with a September 21 letter to Margaret Hamburg, the new Food and Drug Administration Commissioner, and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Director Linda Birnbaum who, among others, was copied on the correspondence.  The letter was penned by Thomas Zoeller, a member of the 2007 Chapel Hill Consensus that advanced theories of danger associated with BPA, and 32 additional signatories.  The letter opens by stating that its signatories are “a group of independent (mostly university) researchers with extensive experience working with endocrine disrupting compounds and in particular bisphenol A (BPA)” but then gives a curious warning to Commissioner Hamburg regarding plans for $10 million in BPA studies by FDA.

“We find it troubling that the FDA is proposing to spend such a large amount of money on such a well-researched chemical,” the letter notes.  It goes on to claim that plans to further research BPA are “disturbing” and that “there is sufficient research and independent review available for the agency to make a decision as to whether, as the law dictates, there is ‘reasonable certainty’ that this chemical is ‘not harmful.’”

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Tags: BPA, Chapel Hill Consensus, FDA Commissioner, George Mason University, Margaret Hamburg
Posted Nov 30th 2009 at 9:57 pm in Environment, News | 3854230 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/mgrabar/2009/11/30/bpa-the-tangled-web-of-green/BPA%3A+The+Tangled+Web+of+Green2009-12-01+04%3A57%3A16Mary+Grabar

Anatomy of a Green Scare: Consumer Reports or Distorts Facts About BPA?

It’s a chemical that has been used in everyday plastic products like eyeglasses, medical equipment, bottles, and food can linings for over fifty years.  But the compound Bisphenol A (BPA) has been the target of scare campaigns over the last few years.  On one hand critics contend that BPA at low doses can affect endocrine systems and reproduction, and cause birth or developmental effects, as well as cancer.  On the other hand, a search of the literature finds no single case of illness or death related to BPA.

Most recently, BPA came under attack November 2 when Consumers Union, the parent organization of the respected Consumer Reports, sent out a press release announcing the results of its lab tests that purportedly showed high levels of the suspect compound in 19 food products.  The authors of the Consumers Report article did not claim that they had found any harmful effects in anyone, just that BPA had been detected.

The Consumers Union press release inspired panic-inducing headlines.  ABC News, the Los Angeles Times, Fox News, and the New York Times dutifully announced the “results” with alarm.  In a separate commentary, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristoff compared the danger of BPA to those he has faced as a reporter of “threats from warlords, bandits and tarantulas.”

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Tags: BPA, Chapel Hill Consensus, chemical exposure, Consumers Union, EPA
Posted Nov 27th 2009 at 4:41 pm in Environment, Healthcare, Media Criticism, News, Politics | 3781059 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/mgrabar/2009/11/27/anatomy-of-a-green-scare-consumer-reports-or-distorts-facts-about-bpa/Anatomy+of+a+Green+Scare%3A+%3Cem%3EConsumer+Reports%3C%2Fem%3E+or+Distorts+Facts+About+BPA%3F2009-11-27+23%3A41%3A05Mary+Grabar