I'm not sure that's really a general difference in approaches. After Canada banned BPA in baby bottles, people started going crazy about it in the US, and event

I'm not sure that's really a general difference in approaches. After Canada banned BPA in baby bottles, people started going crazy about it in the US, and eventually the FDA decided to change its stance. Meanwhile in Europe, nearly all countries concluded no further research was necessary and that BPA was fine. My European friends that I asked about this claimed that it was because "European governments are much more easily influenced by companies". Not the response I was expecting. If you read the section on government regulations in the Wikipedia article on BPA, you'll get an interesting perspective on one issue, at least in terms of precautionary principle vs. safe till proven otherwise.