Media Release

Major health and environment organizations call on government to
eliminate public exposure to BPA 

Scientific evidence links low doses to cancer, diabetes, obesity, and
adverse effects on reproduction and brain development

 

Ottawa, 1 November 2010 - Thirteen of Canada's leading health and
environmental organizations released a joint statement today calling on
the federal government to eliminate key sources of public exposure to
Bisphenol A (BPA), citing links between even low exposures to the
chemical and major chronic diseases.

 

"We have reviewed the scientific literature which includes dozens of
animal studies and some human studies. Robust scientific evidence links
low-dose BPA exposure with increased risks for breast, prostate and
testicular cancers, altered reproductive function, altered metabolism of
sugars and fats linked to obesity and diabetes, and adverse effects on
the developing brain," said Kathleen Cooper, Senior Researcher with the
Canadian Environmental Law Association. 

 

"The scientific evidence warns us that endocrine disrupting chemicals
like BPA may have lifelong impacts when exposure happens during
vulnerable stages of development, especially in the womb," says Dr. Lynn
Marshall, family physician and President of the Environmental Health
Institute of Canada. 

 

"The evidence about chemicals like BPA suggests a need to broaden our
chronic disease prevention efforts to include chemical exposures among
the multiple risk factors for chronic disease," says Liz Haugh,
President of the Ontario Public Health Association.

 

The signatory organizations acknowledge that Canada's designation of BPA
as toxic under federal law is a good first step and are calling for
immediate action. In five recommendations, their statement calls for an
end to all food- and beverage-related uses of BPA as well as legislative
reforms to improve the testing and regulation of endocrine-disrupting
substances and to require disclosure of known endocrine disruptors on
product labels.

 

Focus on Bisphenol A: Statement of Health and Environmental
Organizations on Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals is available, in English
and French, at: http://www.healthyenvironmentforkids.ca/.

 

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For more information, please contact: 

 

Kathleen Cooper, Canadian Environmental Law Association, (705) 341-2488

Dr. Lynn Marshall, Environmental Health Institute of Canada, (905)
845-3462; (416) 526-4576

Connie Uetrecht, Ontario Public Health Association, (416) 367-3313, x
226

Erica Phipps, Canadian Partnership for Children's Health and
Environment, (212) 874-0257

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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