US firm mum on PC class-action suit

29 May 2008 19:06  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--A US polycarbonate (PC) bottle maker said on Thursday that it had no comment concerning a class-action suit, which accused the company of hiding that the bottles contain bisphenol A (BPA).

Ashley Campbell sued Playtex Products in federal court as a defendant class, meaning that other PC bottle makers could become entangled in the suit. Campbell alleges that the bottle makers have caused more than $5m (€3.2m) in damages.

The suit said that the PC bottles leached BPA, the feedstock used to produce the plastic. The suit called BPA "a dangerous chemical that has been linked to serious human health problems".

For more than a decade, the suit said hundreds of studies and papers showed that BPA can be toxic at low doses. Nonetheless, the suit alleges that the companies failed to properly disclose that their bottles are formulated with BPA and that the material has been shown to be dangerous.

The suit said that Campbell would not have bought Playtex's bottles had she known that they were made with BPA.

A spokeswoman said the company does not comment about pending litigation.

Several US lawmakers have called for banning BPA. The American Chemical Council (ACC) has said that such worries are overblown, since most people consume harmless amounts of the material.

($1 = €0.64)

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By: Al Greenwood
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