The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the EU body that deals with the risk assessment of food for human consumption and feed, has proposed a major decrease in human consumption of bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical substance used in various types of food and beverage containers, which is hazardous to health. According to the institution’s experts, the maximum tolerable daily level of BPA intake it should be lowered by 100,000 times compared to the current threshold allowed, up to no more than 0.04 nanograms per kilo of body weight.
Bisphenol A: where it is found. Bisphenol A is used to harden transparent, heat-resistant polycarbonate plastics used to contain food (usually not for water bottles, which are made of polyethylene terephthalate – PET); it is also found in the resins used to internally line cans of canned foods and beverages. It has the characteristic of passing in small quantities from the containers that contain it to the food, especially if the containers are not intact or if they are heated to high temperatures.
Effects on health. Bisphenol A belongs to the class of endocrine disruptors, substances that interact in various ways with the endocrine system, the set of glands and cells that produce hormones. Some of these compounds mimic the action of some hormones (bisphenol A would be able to mimic the action of estrogen, female hormones). Others interfere with hormone production and control or bind to their receptors.
Scientific studies indicate that bisphenol A is harmful to the reproductive, nervous and immune systems; furthermore, since some cancers have a relationship with hormonal systems, there is a suspicion that this substance, like other endocrine disruptors, may play a role in the origin of some types of cancer, such as breast cancer. Of particular concern are the effects on the development of children and fetuses, whose bodies are not fully capable of metabolizing these substances.
The previous stakes. Due to its high use it is not possible to avoid exposure to BPA entirely. However, in 2015, after evaluating it as harmful to reproductive health, EFSA had reduced the tolerable daily dose for this substance from 50 to 4 micrograms per kilo of body weight per day. With the ban on the use of BPA in baby bottles, it was believed that the levels possibly ingested were below the warning threshold, even for the most vulnerable segment of the population. But given the abundance of often contradictory studies on the subject, the European authority had left the question open pending further evidence.
Harmful even in small doses. The limits of these substances are usually set by large controlled studies that directly and unequivocally link a suspected compound to an increased risk of developing a disease. In this case, however, EFSA has given “more weight” to a series of small-scale academic studies that show that even low quantities of bisphenol A can cause future Health problems.
In particular, reference is made to research on animals that underline the harmful effects of BPA on the immune system, because it is linked to an increase in T-helper lymphocytes, white blood cells that in too high quantities trigger inflammatory and autoimmune mechanisms. By comparing these already dangerous low levels of BPA with those to which consumers are exposed, it was decided to revise the permitted quantities downwards.
Dangerous cocktail. The proposal is open to suggestions from the scientific community until 22 February and aims to reach a new official standard by December. This limit will then be provided to European regulators to establish the legal limits of BPA allowed in packaging. The problem does not concern only bisphenol A but all the endocrine disruptors that contaminate food, water and air (such as the PFAS of the pans or the phthalates of PVC) and that reach us at the same time: it is in fact rare that man is exposed to only one of these substances at a time.
In pregnant women, these compounds are transferred from mother to baby through the placenta: according to a study published in Science, the mix of endocrine disruptors is associated with a delay in the development of the unborn child’s language.