This BPA thing is just the tip of the iceberg, mark my words!

I just read yet another article about BPA.  This one covers a recent FDA study that investigated the extent to which canned foods are contaminated with BPA (more here). While I know that the dangers of BPA are old news, it bears repeating that the foods we've always assumed were "safe" to eat might not be.  Or, I suppose, to be more accurate here, the food containers we've always assumed are safe might not be. In any case, the problem as I see it is that the government's policy on the use of chemicals in manufacturing and production is backwards, and the evidence that it acts on is often biased. According to Civil Eats (and presumably US law):

In the U.S., chemicals must be proven to cause harm before they are removed from the market. Yet often exposure adds up over time, which could be resulting in chronic conditions that are difficult to quantify, making it particularly hard to ban a chemical.

Add to that this:

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported in 2009 [that] lobbyists for the chemical industry have historically played an active role in FDA policy making and managing public opinion of the chemical [BPA].

...and it may not be premature to say we're all gonna die.

Shouldn't the government's policy be that chemicals must be proven SAFE before they are added to the market? Not that they are assumed safe until proven otherwise? Or am I a naive idealist to think so?

***

But Jessica, you might be saying, every product possible is now claiming to be BPA free! Aren't you getting your panties in a bunch for nothing? Nope. As this op-ed in the New York Times points out, something has to be substituted for products from which BPA is removed, and the chemical chosen for substitution is not necessarily any better than BPA. In some cases, it might be even worse! People just don't know enough to complain until it's too late:

A manufacturer can replace BPA with another untested compound and get a few years’ use out of it before it, too, becomes the subject of health alerts or news media attention. By the time we know what those new chemicals do to us, entire generations are affected. We are the guinea pigs.

Shit's messed up, yo.