Benito Montiego is an associate in the Division of Marketing for a container company. His team was given an assignment to develop a new line of home kitchen products made of plastic to serve as lower-price alternatives to glass and metal wares. Benito is trying to earn a promotion and wants to take this opportunity to demonstrate his ability to be creative and to create value for his company. Read the following passage and answer the questions at the end.
Bisphenol-A, or BPA, is an estrogen-mimicking industrial chemical used in plastic containers and food packaging.
Since the 1960s, manufacturers have used BPA to produce hard plastic bottles, cups for toddlers, and the linings of food and beverage cans, including those that hold infant formula and soda. Research shows that BPA has found its way into the bloodstreams of more than 90 percent of the population at levels that have shown harm in animal studies.
Studies have also detected BPA in breast milk, the blood of pregnant women, and umbilical cord blood. BPA leaches from containers into the stored food or beverage, whereby it is ingested with the product, and in the case of pregnant women, it can be passed on to the fetus.
In July of 2012, the United States Food and Drug Administration (U.S. F.D.A.) announced the ban on BPA in baby bottles and children’s drinking cups.” The announcement came in response to a petition by the American Chemistry Council, the main trade association of the chemical industry, to prohibit the chemical on the grounds that manufacturers had already abandoned its use.
A formal prohibition codified the latest update in industry practice and was intended to boost consumer confidence about the safety of children’s food and beverage containers.
The Deputy Commissioner for Foods at the U.S. F.D.A. confirmed that the decision merely reflected steps the industry had taken in response to consumers demand, and therefore did not reflect agency concerns about the safety of BPA in these products.
More than 200 scientific studies show clear links between tiny amounts of exposure to BPA and subsequent increased risk of health impacts, from early puberty, breast cancer, childhood obesity, autism, hyperactivity, cancer, diabetes, and reproductive, neurological, and developmental disorders. When reports began to surface about potential adverse health impacts from BPA, its use in consumer products fell into disrepute among concerned parents and advocacy groups, leading to a significant decline in consumer confidence and demand for products containing the chemical. Fetuses, infants and children metabolize BPA more slowly than adults, increasing the risks of exposure.
In 2010, the agency expressed concerns about the health risks of BPA, saying there was “some concern about the potential effects of BPA on the brain, behavior and prostate gland of fetuses, infants and children.” Yet, the latest announcement specifically avoided any discussion of these potential health effects. The U.S. F.D.A.’s prohibition will provide limited protection from BPA amongst the most sensitive members of the population. While public health advocates praised the agency’s decision, they said the chemical still presented risks to human health. According to the president of the National Research Center for Women and Families, “The F.D.A. is slowly making progress on this issue, but they are doing the bare minimum here.”
Almost all other plastic containers may continue to use BPA, including baby food formula containers. The leaching of BPA into food and beverage products can occur whether the container is a sippy cup or a tin can.
Indeed, BPA is used to provide the gloss to cash register receipts, as fillings in dental work, and as a sealant. Public health advocates are not content with the latest ban, seeking instead the prohibition of BPA from all products that can be ingested by humans.
The federal regulation from the U.S. F.D.A. is modeled after a ban that was enacted by the state of California.
Interests of the chemical and formula industries lobbied hard at the state level to oppose the ban, in order to enable continued use of BPA in baby formula packaging and other products for infants. In a measure of compromise, advocates weakened the ban from a complete prohibition to one restricting the use of BPA in baby bottles and sippy cups. The industry fought against consumer safety measures to water them down, then championed those same weakened measures to promote consumer confidence in their products. When the industry petitioned the U.S.
F.D.A., it created the appearance that the industry was ahead of the curve by taking a proactive approach to consumer safety, when just the opposite is true.
The issue of BPA in consumer products highlights the ethical grey area when it comes to complying with consumer protection regulations. Sometimes laws and regulations that purport to protect consumers are empty gestures that merely serve to protect the interests of the industry that is supposedly being regulated. Merely complying with regulations usually does not amount to promoting social, economic, or environmental sustainability.
Questions 

1. Can Benito make a business case for green product design that would convince the rest of his marketing team?
2. How can Benito use sustainable marketing to avoid greenwashing his company’s kitchen products?

3. Is it appropriate for manufacturers to continue using BPA in consumer products aside from those in which it is prohibited? Assume Benito’s competitor companies are using BPA in their dinnerware products. Is this something Benito should make use of for his company’s marketing strategy?
4. In general, what role should the industry play in researching, informing and engaging consumers about the potential adverse health impacts of the chemicals they use?