Breaking News: No Silver Lining about BPA in Cans

Today, a report was released revealing new information about the amount of bisphenol-A (BPA) in our food products. Researchers collected 50 food and beverage containers from several states and Ontario, Canada. The cans contained a wide variety of products, and were sent to a laboratory to be tested for BPA levels.

BPA is the ubiquitous chemical that is in hard plastics, can liners, register receipts and baby products and is known to cause health effects including impaired brain and reproductive development in unborn babies, miscarriage in pregnant women, diabetes, obesity and cancer.

BPA was detected in 92% of the canned food samples, and was not predictable by any reasonable means.

Cans of the same product from different batches had widely different BPA levels, and a can of DelMonte French Style Green Beans had the highest level of BPA ever found in the US at 1,140 parts per billion.

“As a mother of two daughters, I’ll always wonder if BPA exposure during pregnancy and while breastfeeding will play a role in their health. It’s a risk I wouldn’t have taken willingly, and one no mother should have to take at all.”
-Bobbi Chase Wilding, study participant.

Read the full report, "No Silver Lining," and check in later in the week when we'll have a full recap of reaction from the states.

Further Reading

Some Bisphenol-A With your Green Beans? Washington Toxics Coalition, 05/18/10.
BPA present in most canned food, groups allege. CNN, 05/18/10.
How much BPA is in your food? More than was previously thought. NRDC, 05/18/2010.