Scaring Mothers and All Others - The BPA File - Part Four

In a revealing article in the April issue of The Atlantic, "Beyond BPA: Could 'BPA-Free' Products Be Just as Unsafe?" the effort to scare American consumers and others around the world comes full circle. In essence, the people and organizations behind campaigns to ban bisphenol-A (BPA) and anything made from plastic exist to frighten everyone about everything. From the snake oil salesmen who pitched their phony medicines in the days of the early West to today's purveyors of fear about a wide range of chemicals that protect health and extend life, the key element remains the same; they lie to enrich themselves. As John Entine wrote in an article, "Scared to Death", "When it comes to stories on so-called toxic substances, the public discourse seems infected by a malady worse than microscopic residues: chemophobia."