Health Advocates Start National Movement to Ban BPA in Food Packaging

Concerned parents and health advocates are participating in a national movement to urge the nation’s two largest grocery chains, Kroger and Albertsons, to stop selling canned foods lined with harmful chemicals, said a press release today.

The Chemical, Bisphenol A (BPA), has been linked to breast and prostate cancer, infertility, type 2 diabetes, obesity, asthma, and attention deficit disorder. The advocates demanded the companies commit to a policy to eliminate BPA, use safe substitutes for the toxic chemical in canned food linings, and adopt comprehensive chemical policies.

Protesters from 11 states – Alaska, California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon, Texas, Vermont, and Washington, as well as Washington D.C., joined in the national movement

Advocates held protests outside grocery stores, returned canned food testing positive for BPA in grocery bags labeled “Can Toxic BPA,” delivered letters to store managers and distributed flyers to customers.

The national “day of action” was coordinated by the Mind the Store campaign, a project of Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families. Today’s events follow a recent protest outside Kroger’s corporate headquarters and are in advance of Kroger’s annual shareholder meeting scheduled for Thursday in Cincinnati. 

Mike Schade, Mind the Store Campaign Director of Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, said, “The nation’s biggest grocery chains, Kroger and Albertsons, have the power and a moral responsibility to get toxic chemicals like BPA out of canned foods. It’s the right thing to do for our families.”

A recent report by “"Buyer Beware" found toxic BPA in 67 percent of food cans tested nationwide. BPA was found in private-label canned goods tested at both Kroger and Albertsons.

In private-label cans, 62 percent of the Kroger products sampled (13 out of 21), and 50 percent of the Albertsons products sampled (eight out of 16 from Albertsons, Randalls, Safeway) tested positive for BPA-based epoxy resins, according to the press release.

BPA was found in the linings of cans containing green beans and other vegetables, beans, soups, tomatoes, and milk.

More than 100,000 people across the country have signed petitions through Cares2, SaumOfUs, and Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families calling on grocery retailers to ban toxic BPA and replace it with safer substitutes.

In late May, the Mind the Store campaign sent letters to the CEOs of both Kroger and Albertsons, called on the retailers to act:

• Letter to Kroger: http://bit.ly/KrogerLetter 
• Letter to Albertsons: http://bit.ly/AlbertsonsLetter

The action comes after a recent food industry report found more than a third of consumers participating in an annual survey rated chemicals in food as their most important food safety issue.

The Mind the Store campaign is challenging major U.S. retailers to adopt policies to identify, restrict, and safely substitute the Hazardous 100 plus chemicals in common consumer products.