"The fact that industry generated data to support the safety I don't think is an unusual thing."
Mitchell Cheeseman
As a quick review, Bisphenol A (BPA) is a polymer used in many applications which require plastics such as the manufacturing of shatter-proof plastic baby bottles.
The FDA recently released a Draft Assessment of Bisphenol A for Use in Food Contact Applications, and in this assessment I found this:
"FDA estimates that BPA exposure from use in food contact materials in infants and adults is 2.42 μg/kg bw/day and 0.185 μg/kg bw/day, respectively. FDA has determined the appropriate no observed adverse effect level (NOAEL) for its assessment of BPA to be the NOAEL for systemic toxicity of 5 mg/kg bw/day (5000 μg/kg bw/day) derived from two multigenerational rodent studies. This NOAEL results in adequate margins of safety of approximately 2,000 and 27,000 for infants and adults, respectively. The data reviewed on highlighted endpoints, such as the prostate gland and developmental neural and behavioral toxicity, were insufficient to provide a basis to alter the NOAEL used to calculate the margins of safety. FDA has concluded that an adequate margin of safety exists for BPA at current levels of exposure from food contact uses. At a later date, FDA will publish a separate document that provides a safety assessment of BPA exposure from other FDA-regulated products."
In short, we are all consuming/absorbing BPA, but the FDA says it has "insufficient" data to prove the levels we are receiving are dangerous.
Because this is the U.S., and we have too much bureaucracy, there is another federal department studying the same thing. The United States Department of Health and Human Services recently published this report on the Potential Human Reproductive and Developmental Effects of Bisphenol A. That's when I found this:
"Recognizing the lack of data on the effects of bisphenol A in humans and despite the limitations
in the evidence for “low” dose effects in laboratory animals discussed in more detail below, the possibility that bisphenol A may alter human development cannot be dismissed."
Are you surprised?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Post a Comment