About Bisphenol-A

Bisphenol-A

Bisphenol A was developed as a synthetic sex hormone but is now used in common household materials, including some clear, rigid plastic water bottles, baby bottles, re-usable food containers and plastic wraps. BPA is also used to line food cans and is found in some dental sealants. BPA is one of the highest-volume chemicals produced in the world.

Nearly 93 percent of Americans age 6 and up tested by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in 2007 now excrete BPA in their urine, “a finding that indicates widespread exposure to BPA in the U.S. population” according to the CDC. Children had the highest levels of BPA, followed by teens and adults.

A number of studies have found BPA to be linked to cancer, heart disease, obesity, reproductive failures and hyperactivity in laboratory animals. Bisphenol A is a hormone disrupting chemical and as such can have health effects at extremely low exposure levels. Health concerns include:

Brain development: Laboratory animals exposed before birth show impaired learning, increased aggression, hyperactivity, and less maternal behavior when the females have their own offspring.

Reproductive development: Laboratory studies have found exposure before birth has lasting effects on levels of reproductive hormones, and causes early onset of sexual maturation in female offspring. It leads to decreased levels of testicular testosterone, greater prostate size, and decreased sperm production in laboratory animals. Decreased testosterone and sperm production have also been seen when adult animals are exposed to bisphenol A.

Miscarriage and Down’s syndrome: Laboratory mice exposed to bisphenol A had greater rates of chromosomal misalignments, responsible for Down’s syndrome and a significant portion of miscarriages.

Diabetes and obesity: Adult mice exposed to bisphenol A developed insulin resistance, which is a condition that impairs the body’s ability to regulate blood sugar and can lead to diabetes and obesity. A 2008 study in people found that adults with greater exposure to bisphenol A had higher incidence of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Cancer: Laboratory research has found that exposure to bisphenol A alters mammary gland and prostate gland development in ways that could predispose to later cancer.

On December 2, 2007, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published a story after reviewing 258 research papers and finding that a large majority of those studies showed BPA was harmful to lab animals. According to Journal Sentinel reporters, those studies that didn't find harm overwhelmingly were paid for by the chemical industry.

Action on BPA: Timeline

2009

In early June, Connecticut became the second state to ban BPA. Connecticut’s ban is more expansive than Minnesota’s, including infant formula and baby food cans and jars, as well as the full range of reusable food and beverage containers.

In June, concern about the health effects of BPA grew in the scientific community. A new study links the toxic chemical to heart disease and a scientific group met in Washington D.C., recommends people protect themselves by reducing their exposure to BPA.

Also in June, California’s Senate voted to ban BPA in food and drink containers intended for children under the age of 3.

In May, Minnesota became the first state to pass a ban on BPA in children’s food and drink containers.

At the end of May, chemical and food industry representatives held a closed-door meeting at an exclusive Washington, D.C. club to discuss how to turn the tide of increasingly negative public opinion surrounding BPA. The meeting draws massive attention from the media over discussion of using fear tactics and a pregnant spokeswoman to manipulate the BPA debate. Connecticut's Attorney General warns industry representatives that he will prosecute if they used "coercive campaigns" surrounding BPA.

In February, Congress began to discuss whether and how to reform the 33-year-old law that is supposed to protect the public from toxic chemicals. The failures of the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act have been linked to several hot-button issues over the past few years, including the recall of toxic toys and moves by major retailers to pull some baby bottles off their shelves because of chemical leaching.

Also in February, a report released by the Collaborative on Health and the Environment called Girl, Disrupted reported that hormone-disrupting chemicals including Bisphenol A put women and girls at greater risk for developing reproductive health problems, such as early puberty, infertility and breast cancer. Statistics included in the report include the shocking fact that conception rates fell by 44 percent in the United States between 1960 and 2002, and the number of couples reporting fertility problems has increased over the last two decades. The sharpest increase in reported infertility was seen in younger women, under age 25.

In January, legislators in Minnesota introduced a bill that would phase out the use of the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) in children’s products intended for children ages three and under.

At the end of January, the Government Accountability Office released a report warning that the Environmental Protection Agency is unable to safeguard the public from dangerous toxic chemicals.

2008

In December, a spokesperson for the FDA told the Washington Post that the agency is planning additional studies of BPA, but couldn't say whether it would take months or years.

In November, lawmakers vowed to ban BPA after a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report finds that food containers labeled as “microwave safe” leached toxic levels of BPA into food.

The chairman of the Food and Drug Administration panel responsible for an upcoming ruling on the safety of controversial chemical Bisphenol A, Martin Philbert, received a $5 million donation from a retired medical supply manufacturer who calls BPA “perfectly safe,” according to an October 13 report in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

On October 15, Congressmen Dingell and Stupak of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce wrote to FDA Commissioner von Eschenbach requesting an interview on BPA.

On the same day, three state attorneys general in Connecticut, Delaware, and New Jersey sent letters to 11 companies that make baby bottles and baby formula containers asking that they voluntarily stop using BPA in those products.

On October 17, Canada became the first government in the world to conclude BPA is hazardous to human health and to impose a limited ban on BPA in baby bottles.

On October 23, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the FDA’s assessment on BPA was “was written largely by the plastics industry and others with a financial stake in the controversial chemical.” The Journal Sentinel found that Steven Hentges, who heads up the BPA division of the American Chemistry Council, commissioned a review of all studies of the neurotoxicity of BPA and submitted it to the FDA. The FDA then used the ACC’s as the foundation of its evaluation of BPA’s effects on neural and developmental behavior. The FDA’s draft assessment, released in August, found that exposures did not pose a health threat to children or adults.

A panel of scientists charged with advising the FDA on the safety of the controversial chemical Bisphenol A (BPA) warned that the FDA has ignored studies that link the chemical to health problems in a report leaked to the press on October 28.  The panel called the FDA’s conclusions “inadequate and recommended that the agency abandon its earlier findings about the safety of the controversial chemical,” according to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story.

NTP released a report on September 3, finding that there was concern about the chemical's impact on infants, children, and fetuses.

On August 18, the FDA issued its draft risk assessment for BPA exposure in food materials, finding that exposures do not pose a health threat to adults or children.

In June, California State Senator Carole Midgen introduced a bill to ban BPA in baby bottles, sippy cups and formula cans.  SB 1713 fails to pass the California legislature in September.

On May 6, Congressmen Dingell and Stupak of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce write to four baby formula makers to ask them to voluntarily remove BPA from packaging. The four makers are Abbott, Mead Johnson, Nestle, and PBM Products.

On April 16, the National Toxicology Program (NTP), which advises the FDA, released a draft assessment of BPA that found the chemical posed a significant risk to human development.

The NTP report prompts Congressmen Dingell and Stupak of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on April 16 to ask the FDA to reassess the risks to infants and children from BPA. 

On April 18, Health Canada announced BPA will be classified as a “dangerous substance” and proposed a number of steps to reduce BPA exposure to infants and young children by banning baby bottles made with BPA.

Days after the Health Canada announcement, Playtex, which makes baby bottles, and Nalgene, makers of water bottles, announce that they will shift manufacturing to BPA-free materials.  Retailers Wal-Mart and Toys R Us announce that they will no longer sell baby bottles containing BPA.

Environmental and public health organizations in the United States and Canada released a study in February, "Baby’s Toxic Bottle," finding that BPA leaches out of baby bottles and into warm liquids. 

In February, the Energy and Commerce Committee widened its investigation of the FDA to include the role of the Weinberg Group, a Washington, DC-based consulting firm that works on behalf of corporate clients. John Dingell (D-MI) Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Bart Stupak (D-MI) Chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee launched the investigation to learn whether science is for sale by the Weinberg Group and whether the firm’s clients have  “have paid to engineer science that reaches pre-determined outcomes.”

In response to the congressional investigation into BPA, the FDA replied February 25 that its determination that BPA is safe for humans at low doses was based on two industry studies funded by the Society of the Plastics Industry, a subsidiary of the American Chemistry Council. One of the studies has never been published. 

In January, the Energy and Commerce Committee launched an investigation into the use of BPA in products intended for use by infants and children.  Seven leading baby food manufacturers, as well as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), were targeted by the investigation, based on concerns that BPA could be dangerous to infants and young children.

Biomonitoring Studies:

A November 2007 biomonitoring study of 35 participants from seven states, “Is It In Us?,” found that all the participants who submitted urine samples had bisphenol A in their urine, and more than half had it in their blood. The levels of bisphenol A in the blood and urine of study participants are within the range shown to cause effects in laboratory animal studies, including impacts on cell function.

Other biomonitoring studies that found BPA in humans include “Body of Evidence: A Study of Pollution in Maine People”  and a Washington State study, “Pollution in People.”

For more information on BPA generally, see the Environmental Health News Archive or visit Our Stolen Future.

Resources:

How can you avoid BPA plastics? Click to download the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy's Safe Plastics Guide. The guide explains what recycling codes tell you about the safety of plastics and how to avoid plastics that contain BPA.

Click here to download our bisphenol A bibliography.