legislation

Plastic bag bans have been the subject of much debate in America recently as a number of states have taken on the challenge of finding solutions to the growing, unsightly problem of plastic pollution. In a thought provoking article featured on the New York Times, correspondent Elizabeth Rosenthal discusses the controversy surrounding banning plastic bags in New York City. For many other cities, such as Seattle, San Francisco, and Dublin, a bag ban or tax was a simple new measure to adapt to. With barely a bag in sight, Rosenthal writes, life goes on.

Proposed legislation that would list bisphenol A as a hazardous chemical under California's Proposition 65 was stalled by a judge last Friday, who has granted a preliminary injunction to the American Chemistry Council's case against listing the chemical. This move effectively removes bisphenol A from the Proposition 65 list until a decision is reached.

Contributor Andy Metzger of the Lowell Sun, Massachusetts reports that in addition to being excluded from baby bottles by legislation already, bisphenol A is now being challenged with potential restriction from children's toys by a few of Boston's lawmakers. Senator Karen Spilka, a Democratic representative from Ashland, is one of the driving forces behind the push to eliminate bisphenol A from children's toys.

In an article from Australia's Union-Bulletin today, contributor Frank Trapani shares a list of the health concerns associated with bisphenol A, and states that new research supporting the assertions that it is a hazard is becoming more and more plentiful. According to Trapani's article, bisphenol A, which is only now becoming more widely known amongst consumers, has been the subject of a wide and varied selection of research that has examined its harmful side effects on the human body.

According to an article in the Lund Report last week, Oregon lawmakers are now considering a bill which would --if passed-- require manufacturers to report if their products contain any of 19 chemicals identified as harmful and dangerous by the state. Once reported, these manufacturers would then be required to begin phasing out the use of the harmful chemicals, with complete elimination within five years.

In a move that enjoyed wide support in the European Union parliament, a new proposal was introduced last week which would list chemicals with endocrine disrupting properties as "substances of very high concern", enabling a more certain protection of women and infants' health. The proposal has called upon the precautionary principle, which acknowledges that there are still uncertainties regarding the impact of hormone imitating substances, but insists that until it can be proven that these chemicals do not represent a threat to consumers, they should be avoided.

Children's products are often the first items in which bisphenol A is banned, as they prove to be controversial to politicians who do not want to appear callous to the needs of children. In an article on Forbes written by Amy Westervelt, two new studies have emerged presenting evidence that it is important to monitor children's products and the chemicals they contain.

According to an article posted this weekend on the York Daily Record, a testimony was made before a Senate subcommittee in Philadelphia stating that ten newborn babies were just found to contain more than 200 chemicals in their blood, before they were even able to be affected by the air they breathed, food, or water.

An article from the Bangor Daily News has announced today that Maine's Board of Environmental Protection has agreed to support an extension of the state's current legislation on bisphenol A to include infant formula and baby food containers, according to contributor Matthew Stone. Stone writes that a unanimous decision to extend the ban was passed today, and that the Board voiced its concern for the contact that infants make with BPA through plastic on a day to day basis. Stone reports:

An article in the Huffington Post made the announcement that Concord, Massachusetts has become one of the first American communities to ban bottled water, the final result of three years of hard campaigning by environmental activists from the area. According to the article: