The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) is planning to list bisphenol A (BPA) as a potentially toxic substance in light of increased public concern that it poses a health risk to humans, especially infants, an EPA official said yesterday.
After it has been listed, manufacturers that use the chemical in their products will be required to file a declaration with the EPA, Department of Environmental Sanitation and Toxic Substance Management Deputy Chief Wu Wen-chuan (吳文娟) said.
BPA has been on an EPA watch list since last year.
The chemical is commonly found in hard plastic products, including polycarbonate (PC) baby bottles. It is thought to be an endocrine disruptor and has been proven harmful to animals in laboratory experiments, raising concern that it could have negative health effects on humans.
With concern over BPA increasing worldwide in recent years, Canada announced in April its intention to ban the import and sale of PC bottles containing BPA, making it the first country in the world to ban the use of the chemical in bottles, Wu said.
While Japan has also placed BPA on its list of possible endocrine disruptors, the US requires manufacturers, importers and processors of products containing BPA to submit related information to the authorities, she said.
The EU, meanwhile, has set a limit of 30 parts per billion for BPA emissions, she added.
Wu said as the metabolic systems of infants and young children are not as developed as those of adults, BPA consumption was more likely to affect their reproductive systems.
There have not been any reports of incidents involving BPA in Taiwan.
As BPA has not been banned, Wu urged the public to avoid putting hot liquids into PC containers and to discard those that have cracked to reduce the risk of the chemical being released into food or beverages.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching