Blacklisting BPA hits snag

Chemical companies have filed suit against Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration, asserting that bisphenol A (BPA) should not be included on California’s “blacklist.”

Filed by the American Chemistry Council, the suit claims that BPA—which is widely used in household plastics and aluminum cans—does not belong on the state Environmental Protection Agency’s list of harmful chemicals, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The suit suggests a 2008 report found no clear evidence that BPA poses serious health risks; however, Allan Hirsch, chief deputy director of the California EPA said the same report found “that there is clear evidence that bisphenol A causes developmental toxicity in laboratory animals.”

BPA’s addition to the toxins registry is of particular concern to manufacturers, as placement on the list can be a virtual death sentence for a chemical.