The European Environment Agency (EEA) has concluded, after a human biomonitoring study carried out in eleven countries, that 100% of EU citizens “have probably been exposed to bisphenol A above the thresholds “safe health.”
Bisphenol A is a chemical substance widely used in industry and is present, among others, in soft drink cans, packaging caps or in polycarbonate plastics used to manufacture food storage containers or for products such as children’s toys.
It has been known for years that bisphenol A can affect human health and that is why its use in baby bottles was banned in 2011. Therefore, the main means of contamination is food, since canned products are the main source of this exhibition.
In addition to food packaging, BPA is also used in a wide range of other products. These can be thermal paper, inks, textiles, paints and adhesives, electronic equipment. It is present in construction materials such as flooring and then in everyday objects such as toys, CDs, car body coatings, medical devices and dental sealants.
Research into the consequences of this chemical on human health has continued over time and it was in April of this year that the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) concluded that Bisphenol A “constitutes a health problem for consumers of all age groups.” In that report, experts estimated that it could trigger “a development of allergic lung inflammation and autoimmune disorders.”
Now the EEA highlights in its new research “the potential health risks resulting from people’s exposure to dangerous levels of BPA” and assures that it has been proven that bisphenol A is capable of damaging the human immune system in very low doses. . That is the novelty of the study and adds this harmful effect to the others that were already known such as endocrine alterations, reduced fertility and allergic skin reactions.
“We can see that bisphenol A poses a much more widespread risk to our health than previously thought,” said Leena Ylä-Mononen, executive director of the European Environment Agency. In an official EEA statement, the director emphasizes that “we must take the results of this research seriously and take more measures at EU level to limit exposure to chemicals that pose a risk to the health of Europeans.”
The EU began taking steps to regulate the use of this compound in 2015, but new EEA research has shown that human exposure is still too high. For this reason, the EEA speaks of “a health problem for Europeans”, which supports the conclusions of the EFSA in the report they published in April.
More than one million tonnes of Bisphenol A are manufactured or imported into the EU per year, according to the records provided for in the Regulation on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemical Substances.
With this new data in hand, the European Commission has expressed its intention to propose a ban on the use of BPA and other bisphenols in materials in contact with food. This proposal is expected to be ready by the first quarter of 2024, as assessed by the EEA.
“Despite two decades of significant attention from national and EU authorities and the introduction of numerous regulatory measures, biomonitoring data show that exposure to BPA remains too high and constitutes a potential health problem.” , laments the agency.
They say this underlines “the importance of better protecting Europeans from exposure to harmful chemicals.” Thus, they point out that a series of important new actions are being carried out, as described in the Chemicals Strategy and the Zero Pollution Action Plan of the European Commission.
