Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: A federal panel investigating the safety of bisphenol A has been irredeemably compromised, a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report has made clear, which leaves the U.S. Food and Drug Administration with no choice but to replace the committee and its chairman to ensure credibility.
The problem is a $5 million donation from retired medical supply manufacturer and longtime regulatory critic Charles Gelman. That money flowed to the University of Michigan Risk Science Center, run by Martin Philbert, around the same time Philbert was named chairman of the FDA panel investigating the chemical. In an interview with the Journal Sentinel, Gelman’s biases were clear: Bisphenol A is “perfectly safe,” he said, and concerns were fanned by “mothers’ groups and others who don’t know the science.”
Chemical industry
But it’s Gelman who doesn’t know — or chooses to ignore — the science. A Journal Sentinel review last year of 258 research papers showed that the vast majority found bisphenol A to be harmful to laboratory animals. The papers that did not find such were mostly those funded by the chemical industry.
Bisphenol A is used in many products, ranging from baby bottles to dental sealants. Studies have linked it to cancer, heart disease, obesity, reproductive failures and hyperactivity in lab animals.
The public deserves an unbiased answer.