Last updated on August 19th, 2022 at 11:16 pm
There’s been a bevy of articles floating around this week about meetings being held by manufacturers of cans and soda products. They’re concerned because of the public concerns regarding Bisphenol-A (BPA). Including the makers of Coca-Cola and Campbell. If you aren’t already aware, soda cans as well as the majority of canned food is lined with BPA – a hormone disrupting chemical that has a bevy of independent university studies showing harmful effects.
The movement by young mothers (their bread and butter buyers) to avoid BPA is causing them some grief, and well deserved. We all educated ourselves on the effects and are choosing to buy safer alternatives. Because we’re smart people. Manufacturers are going over options to change our view of BPA and to back up it’s safety. They are considering doing one or more of the following tactics to change our view of BPA:
- Use scare tactics: They’ll use slogans like “Do you want access to baby food anymore?” as if we won’t be able to feed our children without exposing them to BPA.
- Giving consumers a false sense of control: They will highlight cost effects of choosing BPA Free products.
- Using a spokesperson: Their “holy grail” spokesperson would be a pregnant woman they said. Apparently showing us a pretty pregnant woman enjoying BPA exposed food with a smile will make us all forget the studies done by respected universities showing BPA exposure is linked to metabolic disorders, brain function, heart disease, genital abnormalities, mood disorders, diabetes….. etc etc etc. Their plan would be to have her go around the country speaking about the benefits of BPA. (Which are?)
So essentially, they want to scare you into buying products containing BPA because they don’t want to lose money. They don’t want to bother investigating safer alternatives. They just want things to go back to the way they were… when we all had no idea BPA existed. Too bad we’re not so naive to be convinced by fear and a pregnant woman. This “young mother” isn’t going to fall for it.
Here’s the full article about the meetings held by manufacturers in the Washington Post:
Kathleen M. Roberts, a lobbyist with Bergeson and Campbell for the North American Metal Packaging Alliance, which represents makers of metal cans and their customers, organized Thursday’s meeting and confirmed the accuracy of the notes. She said her members are concerned about bills pending in state legislatures as well as on Capitol Hill that would restrict or eliminate the use of BPA in metal cans. She said BPA is a safe compound that has been tarred by activist groups and that consumers do not fully appreciate its importance.
Oh we appreciate… we appreciate the importance of protecting the health of our families from the dangers of overused chemicals. We also appreciate that it’s not just activists tarring our view of BPA, it’s the respected studies by top universities and organizations that are opening our eyes to what’s around us.
Source: Washington Post
From Our Fellow Moms
Seems this news has angered more than just us here at SafeMama and our colleagues have some really excellent points:
Sommer from Green and Clean Mom: Talk to the Hand
“What they heck do these mom bloggers know anyhow? On one hand a company wants to use them for PR and marketing and their qualified and valued and on the other hand they’re just hysterical and not trusted.”
Jennifer Taggart of The Smart Mama: Ready to piss off a mom blogger? Seek a pregnant woman to consume BPA lined canned goods
How stupid do these industry representatives think we are? They think that if they pick the right “messaging” (which the industry will discover through at $500,000 survey of consumer perceptions and messaging), we will ignore the growing body of evidence of adverse health effects associated with BPA exposure? That we can’t separate the fact from the fiction?
Jenn Savedge at Mother Nature Network : Movement afoot to silence BPA concerns
“Instead of researching the alternatives (Japan has significantly reduced its use of BPA in many canned goods,) BPA advocates are hanging on to this sinking ship and spending their time and money to devise a strategy and public relations campaign that would silence these concerns about BPA. According to the article in the Washington Post, industry executives are weighing ideas that use financial fears and dated health information to dissuade people from choosing BPA-free packaging.”
Alicia of The Soft Landing: Bisphenol-a Manufacturers Switch to Fear Inducing Strategy
“Who are the fear mongers now? We were the ones “propagating unnecessary fear” just a few short years ago – that is until science bolstered our basis of concern. Now the chemical industry is backed into a corner by the very people who supply the largest portion of their bank accounts – young mothers ages 21-35.”
Before we raised issue with BPA in baby products no one ever heard of BPA. Now you can’t swing a dead cat in Babies R Us without sitting a product labelled BPA FREE. We changed that, we can change this too.
Here’s more:
- Tiffany Washko (Nature Mom)
- Science for Sale
- Janelle Sorensen (Moms Rising)
- Katy Farber (Non-toxic Kids)
- Lynn Miller (Organic Mania)
