Danish Consumer Council reports melamine migration from five of eight tested children’s cups are above legal limits; migration tests undertaken after cups were washed 20 times and filled with a hot drink to simulate use; melamine classified as possibly carcinogenic to humans in the EU
Civil society organizations introduce new certification program for reusable food packaging
Standard aims at improving chemical safety of reusable food contact articles and reducing plastic waste; involves rigorous testing and transparency of ingredients used in the packaging
Low dose BPA effects
Animal study at National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark finds low doses of BPA affect body weight and behavior in female rats, as well as mammary gland growth and sperm count in male rats
BPA health costs at $3 billion annually
New study concludes on thousands of preventable cases of childhood obesity and heart disease caused by BPA; economic savings estimated to outweigh costs of replacing BPA
Discussion on polymer registration under REACH goes into 4th round
EU Competent Authorities for REACH and CLP (CARACAL) subgroup members debate on the identification of polymers requiring registration and their grouping; consider different opinions of stakeholders on group size, acceptable hazard variation within a group and options to deal with the variety of molecular weights one polymer can have; discussions to continue until end of 2021
New FPF Report: Effect of irradiation treatment on migration
New two-dimensional gas chromatography method assesses effects of radiation disinfection treatment for polypropylene on chemical migration
Web stream available for EFSA conference
EFSA conference on food safety on October 14-16, 2015 in Milan, Italy can be followed live via web stream; questions for Q&A sessions can be submitted via Twitter or EFSA-Expo website
EDCs’ burden of disease
Scientific study estimates the costs of EDC-caused disease and disability at >2% of U.S. gross domestic product; calls for improvements in EDC screening and proactive prevention; American Chemical Council criticizes study sharply
PC-replacements: Genotoxicity of NIAS
Decision tree applied to investigate genotoxic potential of 48 migrates from ‘BPA-free’ baby bottles; more data needed for unequivocal classification
Effects of phthalate and nonylphenol exposure on development of adolescents
New study associates phthalate exposure with abdominal obesity, as well as delayed onset of puberty in boys