EPA Releases ‘Action Plan’ on BPA, Chemical Used in DVD Plastics

The EPA on Monday released an “action plan” to probe the possible environmental harms of bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical used in manufacturing a wide range of consumer products. BPA is a key component of the polycarbonate plastics used in CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs as well as for many CE products. It’s also used in the polyvinyl chlorides (PVCs) that Greenpeace has campaigned actively to get CE makers to eliminate from their products.

As part of the action plan, the EPA will study whether to add BPA to its list of “chemicals of concern,” which would trigger required environmental impact testing, it said. In January, the Food and Drug Administration announced that it would study ways to reduce exposure to BPA in food packaging, the EPA said. The EPA has the authority that the FDA lacks to study BPA impact in uses other than food packaging, it said. “We share FDA’s concern about the potential health impacts from BPA,” said Steve Owens, assistant administrator of EPA’s Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances. “Both EPA and FDA, and many other agencies are moving forward to fully assess the environmental and health impacts to ensure that the full range of BPA’s possible impacts are examined.” The action plan requires manufacturers to share BPA test data with the EPA “to assist the agency in evaluating its possible impacts, including long-term effects on growth, reproduction, and development in aquatic organisms and wildlife,” it said.

The EPA said it’s working closely with the FDA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences “on research to better assess and evaluate the potential health consequences of BPA exposures, including health concerns from non-food packaging exposures that fall outside of the FDA’s reach but within EPA’s regulatory authority.” Based on the findings, the EPA “will consider possible regulatory actions to address health impacts from these other exposures,” it said.

Officials from CEA, the Digital Entertainment Group, Greenpeace, NARM and the RIAA didn’t respond right away to requests for comment on what the EPA’s BPA action plan might mean. The DEG for more than two years has been researching ways for the industry to reduce the carbon footprint of DVDs and Blu-ray discs. Last May, NARM and RIAA released a joint study of green alternatives to current CD packaging, based on the work of their “sustainable packaging working group,” whose members included record label executives, retailers and vendors. In the report, called “an environmental and toxicological assessment,” the working group identified “viable alternatives” to existing plastics to “promote greater use of replenishable and recyclable resources, and reduce the industry’s toxicological impacts on human health and the environment,” NARM and RIAA said. But it’s not known if the report, which the groups have not released to the media, recommended eliminating BPA from the production of CDs.