In an op-ed published on August 11, 2016 by the San Francisco Chronicle, Sam Mogannam, founder and owner of Bi-Rite Markets, and Michael Green, CEO of the non-profit organization Center for Environmental Health, encourage Californian consumers to pressure the State of California, U.S., to properly enforce the warning label requirement for products containing bisphenol A (BPA, CAS 80-05-7). In May 2015, California listed BPA as a chemical known to cause reproductive harm under Proposition 65 (Prop65) (FPF reported). Consequently, products containing BPA (e.g. food and beverage cans with BPA-based epoxy linings) are required to carry a “clear and reasonable warning” regarding the chemical’s hazards starting May 2016. However, California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) took emergency action and imposed a temporary uniform “point-of-sale” warning label for canned and bottled foods and beverages in order to give manufacturers more time to comply with the Prop65 requirements (FPF reported).

Mogannam and Green deem this emergency rule unacceptable stressing that it allows “canned food companies to continue selling BPA-tainted products without warning consumers.” The authors argue that a general warning sign at the cash register “does not provide consumers with the accurate information that the law intends.” Therefore, Mogannam and Green urge Californian consumers to demand from OEHHA to properly enforce the Prop65 labeling rules for canned foods and beverages containing BPA in the can linings.

Read more

Sam Mogannam and Michael Green (August 11, 2016). “Consumers should tell California to enforce BPA warning rule.San Francisco Chronicle

Erik Anderson (August 15, 2016). “Consumer advocates push for better warning labels on canned foods.KPBS

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