Does Bisphenol A Really Propose a Risk to Your Health?

BPA stands for bisphenol A. BPA is an industrial chemical that has been used to make certain plastics and resins since the 1960s according to the Mayo Clinic.  

The American Chemistry Council, an association that represents plastics manufacturers, contends that BPA poses no risk to human health.

• In a 2001 safety assessment of vinyl toys softened with phthalates, the Consumer Product Safety Commission stated there is, and I quote, “no demonstrated health risk” to children from the phthalate most commonly found in toys, DINP.  CPSC added that there is, and I’m once again quoting, “no justification” for banning the use of this phthalate. 

I found that the FDA’s current assessment is that BPA is safe at the very low levels that occur in some foods. This assessment is based on review by FDA scientists of hundreds of studies including the latest findings from new studies initiated by the agency, which was updated in March of 2013.

• The National Toxicology Program (NTP) had similar findings regarding DINP.  The NTP found, “minimal concern” regarding this phthalate. 

What I found was that the conclusions were for some concern for effects on brain behavior and prostrate gland and minimal concern for effects on the mammary gland an an earlier age for puberty in female fetuses, infants, and children at current human exposures.

• And, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has tested thousands of Americans for evidence of exposure to phthalates.  The CDC data shows that average human exposure is far below levels set by EPA as protective of human health.

What I found was that finding a detectable amount of phthalate metabolites in urine does not mean that the levels of one or more will cause an adverse health effect.  There is such a wide margin between the doses used in the animal studies and the human exposure levels, that there simply cannot be any public heath concern attached to the results, states the National Toxicology Program U.S. Department of Heath and Human Services.

Recent evaluation by the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) has:

• Determined that exposure to dietary BPA for infants, the population of most potential concern, is less than previously estimated. The initial FDA exposure estimates were 0.185 micrograms/kg-bw/day for adults and 2.42 micrograms/kg bw/day for infants. The new estimate of average dietary exposure, based on increased data collection, is 0.2-0.4 micrograms/kw-bw/day for infants and 0.1-0.2 micrograms/kg-bw/day for children and adults.

The American Chemistry Council state that the above shows that you have three U.S. government agencies finding that phthalates are being used safely in both consumer and non-consumer products.

Even though all these agencies found that the use of BPA is safe.  In February of 2013, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) permanently prohibits the sale of any “children's toy or child care article” containing more than 0.1 percent of three specified phthalates.  A children's toy is a product designed for a child under 12 years of age that can be placed in a child's mouth and kept in the mouth by a child so that it can be sucked and chewed.

And the FDA continually supports (and pays for) additional studies, by both governmental and non-governmental entities, to provide additional information and address uncertainties about the safety of BPA.


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