Tell Congress To Pass the No Toxics in Food Packaging Act

Tell Congress To Pass the No Toxics in Food Packaging Act

Toxic substances moving from food packaging materials into packaged foods present a significant health risk. Packaging materials—including plastics, metals, glass, and paper—often contain additives, residual solvents, and the building blocks of molecules (monomers) that can contaminate food when they move into it.  

>> Tell your U.S. Senators and Representative to cosponsor H.R.9231/S.4724, the No Toxics in Food Packaging Act.  

Many of these substances, as well as their degradation products, can produce adverse effects ranging from endocrine disruption to cancer and reproductive toxicity and have been shown to move into food and be present at levels exceeding regulatory limits. The mechanisms by which chemicals transfer or migrate from plastic include diffusion, volatilization, permeation, convection, solvent extraction, and heat transfer. In addition to inadvertent migration, food packaging may also be purposely chosen to be “active”—which may absorb or release substances.  

Unfortunately, food packaging materials affect organic products as well as those produced by chemical-intensive agriculture, so consumers who carefully read labels and choose products with organic ingredients may still find them contaminated by chemicals migrating from containers. Beyond Pesticides and others have alerted the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) about the hazards of plastic in organic production and handling. Elimination of plastic packaging (which contains many of the chemicals listed in this bill) in organic production and handling should be a priority of the NOSB. 

The No Toxics in Food Packaging Act, introduced by U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro (CT-03), takes a first step to eliminating toxic substances that are known to migrate from food packaging. It identifies 15 chemicals or chemical classes that are some of the most dangerous toxic chemicals migrating from food packaging and food processing materials—targeting chemicals that have been linked to cancer, reproductive harm, and other serious health risks. These chemicals—which include PFAS, orthophthalates, and bisphenols—would be “deemed to be unsafe for use as food contact substances.” Notably, the bill defines PFAS as a “perfluoroalkyl substance or a polyfluoroalkyl substance that contains at least 1 fully fluorinated methyl or methylene carbon atom,” the definition used internationally, though not currently by U.S. regulatory agencies, which are much more limited in their definition. The law will go into effect two years after enactment. 

*Additional cosponsors of the No Toxics in Food Packaging Act include U.S. Representatives Nanette Barragán (CA-44), Jesús “Chuy” García (IL-04), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC-At Large), Jonathan Jackson (IL-01), Stephen Lynch (MA-08), Chellie Pingree (ME-01), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), as well as U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Ron Wyden (D-OR). 

>> Tell your U.S. Senators and Representative to cosponsor H.R.9231/S.4724, the No Toxics in Food Packaging Act.  

The target for this Action is the U.S. Congress.