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Over 80 000 chemicals are in use in the US almost every day and among the chemical compounds, at least according to the amount being produced, Bisphenol A (BPA) holds a high position.
The chemical industry promotes the image of the BPA as an ingredient of numerous products that make our life easier, healthier, and safer. However, this ingredient is surrounded by many controversies, from the ecological ones to its perpetually questionable effect on human health, which not even over 5000 published studies have managed to illuminate.
What is Bisphenol A ?
BPA is a chemical compound which is used for producing the polycarbonate plastic and polyepoxide. BPA is, in fact, widely present, because many products for daily use are made of the polycarbonate plastic. Thus, the contact with the plastic materials that contain BPA is unavoidable because it is used for the production of plastic water bottles, children’s bottles, glasses, dishes for preserving foods, plastic food packages that are stored in freezers and refrigerators (i.e. fresh meat packages), protective can and tin covers (canned vegetables, canned ready meals, canned beverages…) It is less known that the polycarbonates and the epoxy smoke are also an integral part of the cellular phones, computers, and even the bicycle helmets.
BPA in the human body
Over a hundred years ago, it has been established that the BPA in the human body has estrogen characteristics, meaning that it interferes with the endocrine system and imitates the hormones of the body. Thanks to precisely this characteristic, BPA has been accused a long time ago as the possible cause of the increased numbers of the hormone-addictive cancers like breast cancer and testicular cancer. But, this entire theory has been refuted by a team of scientists that have determined that the BPA has an insignificant estrogen effect, which is why it is not a likely cause of the increase in the number of cancers.
Special attention in the scientific circles has been dedicated to the problem of the so-called “low dose effect”. The assumption was that the BPA causes the hormonal and other negative effects in the cases of the prolonged exposure to the very low concentrations. However, the expert teams (among which is a relevant EFSA – European Food Safety Agency) have not managed to support these claims, being that the studies upon which the claims are based are unsound and incomplete, which is why the concrete conclusions about BPA’s effect on the human body cannot be drawn.
BPA mostly gets into our bodies orally, that is via food and drinks that have been stored in the polycarbonate packaging and cans that have been sheeted with the epoxy resins, as well as through the objects and toys that are being put into the mouth when it comes to children. It is good to have in mind that the longer a product spends on a store shelf, for example, the higher the concentration of this chemical becomes in the actual food. Moreover, the heating of this kind of “packaging“ encourages the migration of Bisphenol A into the food.
It has been estimated that the daily exposure to Bisphenol A is even 400 times lower than the defined intake that we can tolerate, which is 0.05 mg per each kilogram of our body weight. In a human body, BPA is very quickly absorbed from the digestive tract, metabolizes in the intestine and liver walls, and gets excreted through urine.
Nonetheless, a number of scientists are expressing their concern, especially after the results of a whole series of studies and various analytical methods that have established that the level of the free BPA in the human serum varies from 0.2 to 20 ng/ml. In addition, relatively high levels of the BPA in the pregnant women’s serum have been discovered, as well as in the umbilical cord and the fetal plasma, which shows that the BPA can be transferred from the mother to the fetus. There are some indications that the BPA can cause infertility and the polycystic ovary syndrome in women, but these claims are for now just a result of small and incomplete studies and cannot, therefore, be considered relevant.
BPA is considered safe
The opinion of the major health institutions is that the doses of BPA that we are exposed to on daily basis (even children and adolescents) don’t have a negative effect on human health and that it can be used in the production of packaging in which beverages and food are stored.
The scientific teams critique this opinion on regular basis, but have not changed it to this day. However, in 2010, some countries (Denmark, France), following the rule of safety, have banned the usage of BPA in the production of the products for children between the ages of zero to three (children’s bottles, children food, etc.) A similarly cautious attitude has also been assumed by the EFSA, which has issued a decree which forbids the children’s bottles that contain BPA in 2011.
Taking everything into consideration, it is difficult to expect that the controversies that revolve around this chemical are going to be resolved. Until then, the best solution would be to follow the rule of safety and limit the use of the polycarbonate plastic in our everyday lives