|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
CONTACT: Environmental Working Group (EWG)
|
|
No Show Legislators Help Chemical Lobby
Defeat Bans on Toxic Food Contaminants
Assembly Will Have Second Chance to Protect Children, Public Health |
|
|
WASHINGTON - August 19 - Last night, more than a dozen members of the state assembly
took a dive for the chemical industry and missed two critical votes on
measures to remove toxic chemicals from food packaging and some infant
products. As a result of those missed votes both bills went down in defeat,
handing a last-minute victory to an army of well-heeled chemical company
lobbyists.
The measures would have banned two notoriously toxic chemicals PFOA, a key
ingredient of Teflon, and BPA, from food containers and packaging, including
infant sippie cups and baby bottles.
"We will do our best to make sure that every parent in California, including
tens of thousands of our supporters, knows that a small group of California
assembly members took a dive yesterday for the chemical industry," said Ken
Cook, President of the Environmental Working Group (EWG), which sponsored
both bills.
"These assembly members skipped votes that would have protected infants and
children from toxic industrial chemicals that are so pervasive they
contaminate babies in the womb," Cook observed.
"Wal-Mart and Burger King do a better job protecting Californians from these
chemicals that the California legislature," noted Cook, referring to the
companies respective decisions to eliminate BPA from baby bottles and PFOA
from food wraps.
Senate bill 1713 by Sen. Carol Migden of San Francisco, would ban bisphenol
A from baby bottles and other products. Laboratory studies show the chemical
harms brain development. Migden's measure failed on a 27-31 vote when 22
legislators abstained from voting.
Senate Bill 1313, by Sen. Ellen Corbett of San Leandro, would have banned
the chemical PFOA from food packaging, which has been identified as a likely
human carcinogen. It fell five votes short of the 41 needed with 11 members
of the Assembly not voting.
EWG is a nonprofit research organization with offices in Washington, DC and
Oakland, Ca. that uses the power of information to protect human health and
the environment.
### |
|