Multnomah County Chair Jeff Cogen wants to enact a countywide ban on selling most plastic products containing bisphenol A, or BPA.
Multnomah County Chair Jeff Cogen wants to enact a countywide ban on selling most plastic products containing bisphenol A, or BPA.
Bisphenol A — BPA — is a chemical compound found in water bottles, canned food, cash register receipts, computer keyboards and a host of other products. It affects the body much like estrogen, and has been linked to prostate cancer and a variety of other health problems.
“There’s no dispute that BPA is a toxic, poisonous chemical,” Cogen says. “It’s increasingly clear that it shouldn’t be in products that people put in their mouths or in their bodies.”
Many large retail chains refuse to sell baby bottles, sippy cups and reusable water bottles made with BPA. But that didn’t stop business lobbyists from pressing House Republicans early this year to sideline a Senate-passed bill that would have banned those products in Oregon. So Cogen, in conjunction with his old boss, Portland City Commissioner Dan Saltzman, decided to push a similar local ban.
Read more at The Portland Tribune.
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