U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein is urging Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to sign legislation that would ban a controversial chemical from children’s food and drink packaging.
That bill won’t reach the governor’s desk until the state Senate, which has already backed a similar bill, takes a final vote on the Assembly-backed legislation. Feinstein, meanwhile, is pushing for national legislation that will keep the chemical away from kids’ food and drink.
In her letter to Schwarzenegger, Feinstein repeated warnings that the chemical may have adverse effects on the development of babies and young children.
Feinstein wrote to Schwarzenegger Monday: "More research is necessary to determine the harm that BPA poses to human health, but until we know more, we need to err on the side of caution and remove this potentially harmful substance from our products."
She also pointed out that major retail companies and six major baby food makers have phased out, or are in the process of phasing out, the chemical from their products.
The Hill reported that Feinstein also is vowing to introduce an amendment to the food safety bill Senate Democrats want to move next month when lawmakers return from summer break. Feinstein said two weeks ago:
The fact that we lack methodology to test chemicals added to plastics, food containers, and cosmetics and determine they are safe before we use them is a great concern. We do not have a precautionary protocol through which chemicals can be ascertained to be harmless before they are included to products that impact human health. This is not acceptable.
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