Senate Bill 797, which CJAC opposes, passed the Senate Committee on Environmental Quality.
The bill, authored by Senators Fran Pavley (D-Santa Monica) and Carol Liu (D-Pasadena), would ban the chemical Bisphenol-A for uses in baby bottles and formula. It is a remake of SB 1713 (Migden) of last year, which died on the Assembly Floor.
The Civil Justice Association of California opposes the bill because it is likely that banning a safe product -- BPA has been approved by the FDA and the European Food Safety Agency -- will lead to additional lawsuits.
This is what happened with silicone breast implants. The makers of the silicone implants had 150 lawsuits in the 30 years prior to an FDA ban, and more than 5,000 a year in each of the four years after the ban. The implants were ultimately determined to be safe -- but not until the company that made them went bankrupt as a result of the lawsuits.
The Civil Justice Association of California is concerned because almost half of the national class action lawsuits regarding BPA originated in California.
The bill is next scheduled to be heard in the Senate Health Committee on Wednesday, April 29.
SB 797 - Position Paper - Senate Environmental Quality Committee.pdf