« Lieberman Drama Continues | Main | Moran Timebomb »
November 3, 2009
Not Just the Plastic Bottles
Oh good. In addition to plastic bottles, the endocrine disruptor "BPA" has been found in a variety of canned foods.
Consumer Reports' latest tests of canned foods, including soups, juice, tuna, and green beans, have found that almost all of the 19 name-brand foods tested contain measurable levels of Bisphenol A (BPA). The results are reported in the December 2009 issue and also available online. BPA, which has been used for years in clear plastic bottles and food-can liners, has been restricted in Canada and some U.S. states and municipalities because it has been linked to a wide array of health effects including reproductive abnormalities, heightened risk of breast and prostate cancers, diabetes, and heart disease. [...]Canned Del Monte Fresh Cut Green Beans Blue Lake had the highest amount of BPA for a single sample, with levels ranging from 35.9 parts per billon (ppb) to 191 ppb. Progresso Vegetable Soup BPA levels ranged from 67 to 134 ppb. Campbell's Condensed Chicken Noodle Soup had BPA levels ranging from 54.5 to 102 ppb.
By the way, Progresso soup is basically processed chemical sludge -- delicious processed chemical sludge, but processed chemical sludge nonetheless.
At the end of the month, the FDA is going to release the results of a BPA study. Hopefully this will lead to a nationwide ban. Again, measures like this have to go hand in hand with healthcare reform.
Filed under: Endocrine Disruptors || FDA || Food || Healthcare
 |  |  |  |  |
Posted By Bob Cesca | November 3, 2009 2:10 PM
Comments
I'm glad you're attacking this issue, Bob. My wife and I got so many rolled eyes and annoyed sighs when we insisted on using BPA free bottles and cups for our daughter. We didn't know anything about BPA until she was a year old and then we got pretty freaked out and started throwing everything away and buying new stuff. Much of that stuff was overpriced, which is a great way to make sure that only those able to pay outrageous prices for products that surely only hippie, food Nazis (yeah, we get called that regularly) would buy.
Many in our family still make fun of us for this issue. I'm not sure if they do it because they don't want to believe there's a problem--I mean surely if there was poison in our food the gov't would have told us, right? Along those lines, until a policy is made and it becomes mainstream knowledge, too many parents just scoff at this.
I appreciate your diligence.
Posted by: camel54 ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.bobcesca.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at November 3, 2009 2:31 PM
ah fuck
Posted by: Mike H. at November 3, 2009 3:18 PM
It looks like we all need to go back to using glass, stainless steel, aluminum, etc like our parents did. I am glad that I have insisted on eating frozen and fresh vegetables rather than canned. Now I am waiting to see what they will find in the frozen veggies....
Posted by: madashellliberal at November 3, 2009 3:43 PM
I blame Bush.
Posted by: Elvis Dingeldein at November 3, 2009 3:50 PM
Geez
Well I'll never buy a can of del monte cut green beans ever again.
That just fucking figures. An easy cheap source of green vegetables that I had no problem eating regularly is actually poisonous.
Posted by: J M Ashby at November 3, 2009 6:54 PM
No to pile on, but the Utne Reader has a piece about BPA in the seals used in home canning lids. In all fairness, it's just the seals, so who knows what concentrations of BPA are actually reaching the food and your body.
Posted by: grs at November 4, 2009 10:18 AM
