Chemical Fallout: A Journal Sentinel Watchdog Report
Warning: Chemicals in the packaging, surfaces or contents of many products may cause long-term health effects, including cancers of the breast, brain and testicles; lowered sperm counts, early puberty and other reproductive system defects; diabetes; attention deficit disorder, asthma and autism. A decade ago, the government promised to test these chemicals. It still hasn't.
Products marketed for infants or billed as "microwave safe" release toxic doses of the chemical bisphenol A when heated, an analysis by the Journal Sentinel has found. »Read Full Article
- How The Story Was Reported: Putting the products to the test
- PDF: How to avoid bisphenol A
- BPA results
- Responses: E-mails from companies whose products were tested
- Statement: American Chemistry Council
- Video: Meg Kissinger talks about her reporting on JSOnAir
Congress ordered the federal government in 1996 to begin testing and regulating certain chemicals suspected of causing cancer and a host of developmental problems. Eleven years later, not a single compound has been put to that test. »Read Full Article
- Audio slideshow: A chemical home audit
- Graphic: Room by room chemicals abound (pdf)
The federal government's assurances that a common chemical is safe are based on outdated U.S. government studies and research heavily funded by the chemical industry. »Read Full Article
The Environmental Protection Agency is supposed to evaluate compounds in products such as flame retardants in mattresses and car seats to see if they are especially harmful to children. But it doesn't. »Read Full Article
A flame retardant that was taken out of children's pajamas more than 30 years ago after it was found to cause cancer is being used with increasing regularity in furniture, paint - even baby carriers and bassinets - and manufacturers are under no obligation to let the public know about it. »Read Full Article
A few blocks from St. Josaphat Basilica on Milwaukee’s near south side, a company called Milport Enterprises makes more than a million pounds a year of a chemical that no one knows much about, not even the company executives. This is despite a decade of promises by the federal government to provide safety information about just such chemicals. »Read Full Article
A retired medical supply manufacturer who considers bisphenol A to be "perfectly safe" gave $5 million to the research center of Martin Philbert, chairman of the Food and Drug Administration panel about to make a pivotal ruling on the chemical's safety. »Read Full Article
A government report claiming that bisphenol A is safe was written largely by the plastics industry and others with a financial stake in the controversial chemical, the Journal Sentinel found. »Read Full Article
Chemical Fallout | Watchdog Update
Bisphenol A opponents, Obama team to meet
A coalition of health advocates, looking to seize the momentum of a new administration, will meet with members of President-elect Barack Obama's transition team next week in Washington, D.C., to push for a ban on bisphenol A.
More Headlines
- Lawmakers to seek ban on BPA
- BPA substitutes sought as pressure mounts
- FDA scientists to reconsider overlooked BPA studies
- Scientific panel criticizes FDA report that labels bisphenol A safe
- Scientists note flaws in bisphenol A study; lawmaker wants ban
- Canada to ban bisphenol A in baby bottles
- FDA looks into bisphenol A advocate’s donation to science center
- New study links heart disease to bisphenol A
- Testimony on bisphenol A stirs debate
- Group’s tests of bisphenol A conflict with FDA’s findings that it’s harmless
