Yesterday marked the end of the 6 month waiting period before Canada could officially list Bisphenol A, or BPA, as a toxic substance. And it did.
Six months ago heath Canada began the process to have BPA listed as a toxic substance, among other things, notifying businesses and interested parties of it's intentions with notices in the Canada Gazette, a government publication. that notice period is now over and Canada now has the great honor of being the first country in the world to rasie official concerns over the use of BPA.
BPA is a building block to hard polycarbonate plastics such as baby bottles and plastic drinking glasses, as well as an agent in the epoxy of food and beverage tin liners, where it acts to inhibit bacterial contamination and lenghten shelf life. Recent, and frighting, studys have shown that BPA in baby bottles can leach as the bottles react to heat. Other concerns are BPA simply leaching into stored food products when kept in BPA lined cans.
The official labeling of BPA as a toxic substance paves the way for health Canada to begin drafting regularions that prohibit the manufacture, sale, marketing and importation of products ccaring BPA which are intended for use by infants. And it has.
Today I am proud to say 'I am Canadian!' Let's hope Canada's step towards safer products catches on.....
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