Children's Health

EPA: Bisphenol A Is a 'Chemical Concern'

Reactions to the EPA's Action Plan continued...

''We think it's great they are taking some steps using their existing authority, but their existing authority is very weak,'' Janssen says. In adding BPA to the chemical concern list, the EPA uses its authority under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TCSA).

''TSCA is a fundamentally flawed law'' that limits the EPA's ability to take action and ''favors industry," Janssen tells WebMD.

''We're very happy with the action," says Alex Formuzis, a spokesperson of the Environmental Working Group in Washington, D.C. "It's an important development that we now have the EPA as well as the FDA scrutinizing the health and environmental risks this chemical poses."

Disagreeing is Steven Hentges, PhD, executive director of the Polycarbonate/BPA Global Group of the American Chemistry Council, an industry group in Arlington, Va. "We have an extensive scientific data showing that BPA is not a risk to the environment," he says. ''The strong scientific database doesn't support concern about BPA in the environment."