Article by Erik Smith. Published on Thursday, March 04, 2010 EST.

Take Tough Action Against Baby Bottles, Sippy Cups – Their Own are a Different Matter

Lawmakers courageously ignore warnings and show support for the bottled water industry by drinking from BPA bottles every day. This rack is installed in a House meeting room.

By Erik Smith

Staff writer/ Washington State Wire

OLYMPIA, March 4.—Lawmakers are taking tough action against baby bottles and sippy cups that contain BPA plastics, joining a national activist-fueled clamor against the plastic. But when it comes to their own water bottles, they don’t seem to be in a hurry to do anything about it.

            For years they’ve been drinking from water-cooler bottles that contain bisphenol A, the compound that that has been causing so much fuss both here and in legislatures across the country. They still are. And when informed of the fact, lawmakers say they are stunned. 

            Shown the proof, one member, Rep. Cary Condotta, R-Wenatchee, said, “I didn’t know that.”

            But no one yet has dropped a bill.

            And it get even stranger. The substance appears to be the number-one health threat facing the state of Washington, judging by the speeches in committee and on the House and Senate floor. Yet no one in the state Legislature seems at all frightened.
 

            Baby Bottle Bill Passes House

            The Legislature now appears certain to pass a bill this session that bans the sale of BPA products that might touch the lips of children under three. Both houses have passed bills, and the Senate version, SB 6248, made it through the House Wednesday by a vote of 96-1. The House version, HB 1180, has been passed by a Senate committee and is awaiting action on the Senate floor.

            In that the Legislature is moving ahead where federal regulators fear to tread. The federal Food and Drug Administration maintains the case against BPA is unproven, and is launching a $30 million effort to see if any of the studies demonstrating harm can be reproduced. The scientific consensus for more than 50 years has been that the widely used plastic is harmless, but a growing and vocal minority of researchers have been claiming that the compound can cause reproductive and developmental problems in children and chronic disease in adults.

            Environmental activists have instead taken the cause to the political arena, pressing state legislatures to pass BPA bans of their own. Two states had already passed BPA bans at the beginning of the session, and several more are considering them this year. In Washington state, a ban on BPA in baby products is one of three official top priorities for the environmental lobby – the others being a tax increase on hazardous substances to pay for water-pollution projects, and an effort to hold the line on cuts to environmental programs.

            Skepticism Melts

At the start of the session, some lawmakers expressed considerable skepticism about the scientific case for a BPA ban. But most opposition disappeared when the FDA announced in January that because so many researchers had expressed concern, perhaps parents of small children ought to show “caution.”

            The House and Senate BPA bills began passing by wide margins, and now the only remaining issue appears to be whether the Legislature will also take action against sports-water bottles. The Senate has been reluctant to go that far, but the version that passed the House Wednesday would phase in a ban on sports-water bottles over a year. State Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, D-Seattle, sponsor of the House measure, called it a minor difference that will be worked out before session’s end.

            “I think it’s a very big deal,” she said after Wednesday’s near-unanimous vote. “It was certainly helped by the information that came from the FDA. I’m proud that our state will be joining with a few others to protect babies and toddlers.”

            But when told the Legislature itself has been drinking from BPA bottles all along, Dickerson did a double-take.

            BPA is Everywhere

            One of the points made by industry is that BPA is everywhere – not just in baby bottles and sippy cups, but in many other applications requiring shatterproof plastics. The plastic also is used as a liner in cans and jar lids as a buffer to protect against deterioration of metal. Users say that in many applications there are no cost-effective substitutes. And nowhere is that more an issue than in the field of bottled water.

            Those big blue plastic jugs you see atop water coolers?

            They’re all made with BPA plastic.

            The furor over BPA is starting to worry those who deliver bottled water to businesses. Jim Conway, owner of the Lodi Water Co. of Chewelah, has testified to numerous committees this session that frightened customers are beginning to cancel. Though the Legislature may not be taking action against the bottled-water industry, its rush to action is bound to create a negative impression.

            There’s no way to replace all the bottles, he said. “It would put me out of business. We don’t have the resources to do that. We are looking at changing the law and we don’t have good sound science. We’re talking about a chemical that has been used in the food industry for more than 50 years. We take our marching orders from the FDA and they say it’s safe, go ahead and use it. But if the state of Washington takes a stance that there is a problem with BPA, it’s going to be putting a big impact upon the bottled water companies and our industry in this state and it’s going to have a big impact on jobs and our ability to do business in this state.”

            And so you might say the Legislature is showing its support for his industry. Every day lawmakers and staff in legislative office buildings continue to quaff from BPA bottles, showing absolutely no concern about it whatever.

            Proof is in the Stamping

            Testimony at hearings this year revealed the fact that BPA bottles can be identified by the legend stamped on the bottom. You can tell if there’s a “seven” in a triangle. And an inspection of the water-cooler bottles in the House and Senate office buildings as well as the state Capitol demonstrates that they’re made of — you guessed it.

            “That’s news to me,” Dickerson said. “Well, at least we’re all adults.”

            Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, said the problem with BPA really comes with bottles that have been in use for some time, and which have deteriorated through use. When told that the Legislature’s water-cooler bottles are reused countless times and washed in industrial dishwashers at temperatures of about 170 degrees, Brown smiled grimly and said, “Well, that would be a concern.”

            And state Rep. Bill Hinkle, R-Cle Elum, said the whole thing comes as quite a shock.

            “I guess we better not put any baby formula in them,” he said. 
 

BPA bottles are delivered to the John L. O’Brien Building. 



Look for a seven in a triangle — it’s the telltale sign.

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