Proposed BPA bill in Wisconsin will do harm and no good

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967632_38993259Wisconsin Representative Chris Taylor (D) has introduced Assembly Bill 607, requiring manufacturers to label food containers that contain BPA. Despite the fact that BPA has been used for half a century and is approved by the FDA as being safe, Taylor claims that the inherent problem is that consumers are left to guess, about the presence of BPA in the products they re buying.

In a guest commentary that appeared in the Green Bay Press Gazette, Mattie Duppler, director of budget and regulatory policy for Americans for Tax Reform, asserts that this bill could be extremely harmful to consumers and calls out Taylor as the latest lawmaker to think they know better than the scientific community. As the author of the commentary says, The squeeze a new labeling regime would put on manufacturers would not only increase prices; it could cause store owners to pull products from their shelves entirely if they are unable to absorb those costs. The federal government s own literature encourages earners to purchase canned fruits and vegetables as a way to eat healthy on a budget; making those products more expensive and less available harms poorer Wisconsinites the most.

However, the bill may actually get lawmakers in trouble. The text of the bill asserts that BPA is linked to various health concerns, but none of the evidence supporting those concerns is based on science, mainly because there is no science to back the claims. Therefore, if this bill does pass, it is likely that Wisconsin taxpayers would be liable for potentially millions in litigation costs the state would incur defending the labeling in federal courts.

So really, according to Ms. Duppler, the main problem with this bill is that it would be extremely harmful to consumers by restricting access to products that are essential to their health. Way to go Wisconsin.

We here at ACSH have written about the safety of BPA too many times to count and it s always the same story. We hope that Wisconsin will choose not to pass this bill.