Today "clarifies" its bottle report

The Today show this morning did an update on its report on plastic container safety. Primarily the report reinforced the message that it delivered yesterday -- that consumers should avoid PVC, polystyrene and polycarbonate containers. NBC chief medical editor Dr. Nancy Snyderman did clarify that PVC and PS do not contain bisphenol A. But she added that PVC and PS contain "other chemicals like polyvinyl chloride that we know in rat studies can be linked to cancers and other problems." (I think she meant to say vinyl chloride, not polyvinyl chloride, but at this point who really knows.) Host Matt Lauer asked if her advice was "to err on the side of caution, or to throw caution to the wind?" The question gave Synderman the opportunity to reinforce her view, that consumers should be cautious. Finally, she suggested that consumers with questions about plastic safety check www.iatp.org, which she described as an "independent organization." The Web site has been down all morning -- no doubt thanks to the Today show plug -- so I haven't been able to check out exactly what it says about various plastics. But I can tell you that the site is the work of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, a non-governmental organization based in Minneapolis. For more information about IATP, check out this link, which says the group "uses its activist network to strong-arm American corporations into endorsing its politically-correct trading model, which includes importing more food from “sustainable” growers in other countries. The group's most successful push has been in the area of so-called “fair-trade” coffee, which is more expensive to buy because its growers claim to pay their workers drastically above-market wages."