On August 13th, the JPML created MDL 1967, IN RE: BISPHENOL-A (BPA) POLYCARBONATE
PLASTIC PRODUCTS LIABILITY LITIGATION.

The panel’s order found that these actions share factual questions arising out of allegations that various defendants manufactured, sold or distributed polycarbonate plastic bottle products containing Bisphenol-A without disclosing its possible harmful effects. The cases were assigned to Judge Ortrie Smith of the Western District of Missouri.

At the time of the motion to create the MDL, this litigation consisted of fourteen actions pending in eight districts as follows: four actions in the Central District of California; two actions each in the Eastern District of California, the Western District of Missouri, and the Western District of
Washington; and one action each in the Eastern District of Arkansas, the District of Connecticut, the Northern District of Illinois, and the District of Kansas.

While the motion was pending, the Panel was notified that nine additional related actions have been filed: three actions in the Central District of California, and one action each in the Eastern District of Arkansas, the Northern District of Illinois, the District of Kansas, the Western District of Missouri, the Southern District of Ohio, and the Western District of Washington. These actions will be treated as potential tag-along actions.

MassTortDefense has posted on BPA and here.  BPA received considerable recent attention due to widespread human exposures and concern for possible reproductive and developmental effects reported in laboratory animal studies. A recent draft report by the Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction (CERHR) of the National Toxicology Program (NTP) examined the Food and Drug Administration finding that bisphenol-A is safe when used to line infant formula cans. The CERHR/NTP draft report expressed “some concern” based on animal studies that the chemical might affect the neurological systems and behavior of fetuses, infants, and children.

The NTP Brief on Bisphenol A is not a quantitative risk assessment, nor is it intended to supersede risk assessments conducted by regulatory agencies. The NTP Brief on Bisphenol A does not present a comprehensive review of the health-related literature; it does not include a comprehensive analysis of the issues related to this chemical. The NTP report relies heavily on animal testing, rather than human epidemiology. Regarding the neural and behavioral effects reported in some studies of rats and mice at relatively low BPA doses, the Panel authoring the report also acknowledges that it is not even clear whether these effects should be construed as an adverse toxicological response. The draft report does not conclude that BPA is dangerous. It notes that further research is needed – that’s the right approach to new data or concerns about a product that has been in use for decades. And the key reported low-dose effects are not replicated or corroborated.

The European Food Safety Authority recently concluded a report with a key conclusion that after exposure, the human body rapidly metabolizes and eliminates BPA. This represents an important metabolic difference compared with rats, and suggests certain animal models are not all that useful. That is, people metabolize and excrete BPA far more quickly than rodents. This evidence further limits the relevance of low-dose effects of BPA reported in some rodent studies used for human risk assessment.