Australia unswayed by Canada's move to ban chemical (bisphenol-A)

[friendly_iconoclast]

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/wellbeing/australia-unswayed-by-canadas-move-to-ban-chemical-20101014-16lwl.html

Australia unswayed by Canada's move to ban chemical
Melissa Singer CONSUMER AFFAIRS
October 15, 2010

THE country's top food safety regulator has defended the use of a chemical that has been linked to hormonal defects, despite a decision by the Canadian government to declare it toxic.

The chief scientist of Food Standards Australia New Zealand, Paul Brent, said Australia would continue to adopt the European Union's safe level for bisphenol-A, which is 600 parts per billion or 50 micrograms per kilogram of body weight a day.

But consumer groups argue that the science supporting the safe minimum level is outdated and have called for a review of the standards.

Yesterday Canada ruled that bisphenol-A, used to create clear, hard plastics and to line food cans, ''should be considered as a substance that may be entering the environment in a quantity or concentration or under conditions that constitute or may constitute a danger in Canada to human life or health''.....