The Minister of Ecology also wants the establishment of an “anti-bisphenol” label for companies that have already substituted this substance.
The objective is clear: on January 1, 2015, bisphenol A will be completely banned from consumer products, food containers and receipts in France. It is Ségolène Royal, the Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy who confirmed this on Friday 9 May. This product, an antioxidant and a plasticizer, had already been banned in 2013 for products intended for babies and young children, such as baby bottles.
Bisphenol A is an endocrine disruptor; it is suspected of acting on fertility and growth, of disrupting the reproductive, nervous, immune, metabolic and cardiovascular systems and of being the cause of certain cancers. In January, the European Food Safety Authority (Efsa) said the tolerated thresholds for exposure to bisphenol A should be divided by ten in the future.
In order to encourage companies to have removed this substance even before January 1, 2015, the Minister of Ecology declared that she wanted to create an “anti-bisphenol” label. A ban process at European level has also been initiated and should see the light of day by the end of 2015, announces the press release from the Ministry of Ecology.
Bisphenol A is not Ségolène Royal’s only target. The minister also wants to strengthen controls on the possible presence in toys of phthalates, a substance prohibited for all toys intended for children under three years of age at European level. Finally, Ségolène Royal asked the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (ANSES) for a targeted expertise on five substances “suspected of being endocrine disruptors”, including methyl parabens. , used as preservatives in food or pharmaceutical products.
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