More Bad News for BisPhenol A Cans and Bottles

There is more bad news about bisphenol A. This is a chemical used in plastic bottles and as a liner in metal cans & bottles.

First, it seems that there is a serious charge that bisphenol-A disrupts the HOXA10 gene, which I had never heard of before, but it seems to be important in fetal development. This is different and potentially more serious than the sexual disfunction worries we knew about previously -- like feminized male babies with undersized "male parts" and young girls going through puberty too early. This news threatens birth defects, and birth defects mean multi-million dollar lawsuits.

Yesterday, Canada found that bottles that advertised being bis-phenol-A free actually had bis-phenol. There is really no reason why this should be so -- perhaps inaccurate labeling or dishonesty on the part of producers.

I occasionally encounter the container coatings industry, and last year my contacts were not worried that bis-phenol was going to be banned, but I think that we have reached the tipping point. I believe that bisphenol-A's days are numbered.

Most people don't know that there is bis-phenol A in almost all food, soda and beer cans. Only a little gets into the food, but with our legal system, I don't think it will matter.

It is completely possible that the transition from metal food cans will not be possible, and that we will end up with sterilized pouches or PET bottles.

Click here for my new post from January 2010.