Taxpayers may have voiced their frustrations over taxation and government spending last week, but that is not preventing some lawmakers on Capitol Hill from actively pursuing efforts to grow the Nanny State. On today’s FlashReport.com, ATR’s Sandra Fabry discusses the latest push in that area, led by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) which if implemented would be yet another perfect example of regulatory overkill – the legislative push to ban Bisphenol A (BPA) from food and drink containers. From Fabry’s commentary:

Rumor has it that Sen. Feinstein’s bill may be offered as an amendment to the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, possibly as early as this week.

You may ask: “What’s not to like?” After all, who would be opposed to banning “poisonous” additives? Well, here’s the rub. Not only is BPA of the most ubiquitously used chemicals that strengthens many plastic products, helps prevent food spoilage and contamination when used in food containers, and can withstand high heat enabling metal cans to tolerate temperatures necessary for sterilization purposes – it is also considered safe. While the bill title suggests otherwise, Bisphenol A has been found safe, not just once, but over and over again.

As recently as a few weeks ago, the FDA updated its policy on the substance deeming it once again safe as currently used. In fact, according to Josha Sharfstein, M.D., Chief Deputy Commissioner at the FDA, there is no reason to be concerned regarding the safety of the substance: “If we thought it [BPA] was unsafe, we would be taking strong regulatory action.”

Activist environmental groups have for decades pushed for a ban on the substance, basing their fear-mongering on flawed and poorly designed studies, the premises of which have been repudiated on numerous occasions.

Click here to read the full piece.

Posted by Adam Radman on Monday, April 19, 2010 12:11 PM EDT

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