Bisphenol A: 9 Questions and Answers
What is bisphenol A?
Bisphenol A, also called BPA, is a chemical found in polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins.
Polycarbonate plastics are used in certain food and drink packaging. It's also in compact discs, computers, impact-resistant safety equipment (such as helmets and goggles), and medical devices.
Epoxy resins line metal products such as canned foods, bottle tops, dental composites and sealants, and water supply pipes.
Is bisphenol A safe?
That's a controversial question.
In 2008, an FDA review of toxicology research and information concluded that food-related materials containing BPA on the market were safe.
But in January 2010, the FDA noted that "recent studies have reported subtle effects of low doses of BPA in laboratory animals. While BPA is not proven to harm children or adults, these newer studies have led federal health officials to express some concern about the safety of BPA."
Specifically, the FDA noted that it has "some concern about the potential effects of BPA on the brain, behavior, and prostate gland in fetuses, infants, and young children." That's in line with concerns expressed in a 2008 report from the federal government's National Toxicology Program (NTP).
The NTP's report, issued in September 2008, also noted "minimal concern" about effects on the mammary gland, early female puberty, and reproductive effects in adults who work with bisphenol A, and "negligible concern" about fetal or neonatal death, birth defects, reduced birth weight or grown in babies born to women exposed to bisphenol A during pregnancy, and reproductive effects in adults who don't work with bisphenol A.
The American Chemistry Council, a trade group for the plastics industry, says bisphenol A is safe for typical consumer uses.
What does the research say about bisphenol A?
In January 2010, researchers reported that people in the U.S. with the highest levels of BPA in their bodies have the highest risk of heart disease.
Those findings are in line with a 2008 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, which showed that adults with high levels of bisphenol A in their urine samples are more than twice as likely to report a history of heart disease or diabetes as adults with low urinary levels of bisphenol A.
In a study of male factory workers in China, those exposed to very high levels of BPA were four to seven times more likely to report sexual function problems than workers with no occupational exposure to BPA, according to a study published in Human Reproduction in November 2009.
And in October 2009, other researchers reported a possible link between prenatal exposure to BPA and increased aggression in girls, but not boys, at age 2.
Those studies don't prove that BPA was to blame for the health problems that were studied.
Much of the other bisphenol A safety research has been done on rodents, which handle bisphenol A differently from humans. In those rodent studies, the greatest risk has been seen in developing fetuses and infants.
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