Expert Assessments

EPA released its bisphenol A (BPA) Action Plan in March 2010. Importantly, the agency clearly indicated that it “does not intend to initiate regulatory action under TSCA at this time on the basis of human health.” To read more about what EPA’s BPA Action Plan said, click here.

Over the decades that BPA has been widely used, many experts have studied this compound, its properties, and its potential impact on consumers and the environment.

Expert panels, scientific programs and regulatory agencies have extensively studied the safety of BPA. Some recent assessments include:

  • In September 2010, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) updated their “Bisphenol A (BPA) and food packaging” fact sheet. According to FSANZ: “FSANZ is very aware of and sensitive to the public concerns about the potential adverse health effects of exposure to Bisphenol A, but remains of the opinion that there is no health risk for consumers, including infants, as ongoing testing has revealed that BPA may only be found at extremely low levels in polycarbonate plastic baby bottles and in infant formula. This view on risk is also shared by other international food regulators in Canada, the United States and Europe." To read the entire fact sheet, please click here.
  • On April 5, 2010, FDA released its docket of information pertinent to BPA.  As a follow up to its January 2010 statement on BPA, FDA opened this docket to provide transparency of the scientific review process.  To see FDA’s January statements supporting the continued safe use of BPA, and noting that the agency would open a docket, please click here. To visit the docket online, please click here.
  • In January 2010, FDA Deputy Josh Sharfstein said, “In a word, [the Food and Drug Administration] does support the use of baby bottles with BPA” because the benefits of sound infant nutrition currently outweigh the known risks from BPA, in describing the agency’s bottom line on the safety of the additive for babies. – Los Angeles Times
  • In January 2010, the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR, Bundesinstitut für Risikobewertung) wrote, “Following careful examination of all studies, in particular the studies in the low dose range of bisphenol A, BfR comes to the conclusion in its scientific assessment that the normal use of polycarbonate bottles does not lead to a health risk from bisphenol A for infants and small children. BfR is not alone in this assessment. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the U.S. Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) share this opinion. Japan, which has conducted its own studies on bisphenol A, does not see any need for a ban either.”
  • In March 2009, Food Standards Austria/New Zealand concluded that “BPA does not cause cancer” and that BPA exposure levels for both infants and adults are very small and do not pose a risk to human health.
  • In August 2008, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a draft safety assessment of BPA in food-contact products such as baby bottles, water bottles and other food containers. Overall, the FDA concluded: “an adequate margin of safety exists for BPA at current levels of exposure from food contact uses, for infants and adults.”
  • In October 2008, an expert scientific panel, convened by Gradient Corporation, published the results of its weight-of-the-evidence evaluation of low-dose reproductive and developmental effects of BPA. Based on its review of scientific literature available through July 2008, the panel concluded: “The weight of evidence does not support the hypothesis that low oral doses of BPA adversely affect human reproductive and developmental health.”
  • In September 2008, the U.S. National Toxicology Program (NTP) Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction report on the potential for BPA to affect human reproduction or development confirmed that human exposure to BPA is very low. The report noted only “some concern” for BPA for certain human health impacts, and did not note any higher level “concern” or “serious concern” for any possible human health impact
  • In June 2008, the European Commission released an updated 2008 European Union risk assessment report on BPA. For the BPA risk assessment, an expert panel of EU scientists evaluated over 200 recent studies on BPA. The report found that products made from BPA are safe for consumers and the environment for intended uses.
  • In January 2007, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) released a comprehensive scientific assessment of BPA that was conducted by a panel of independent scientific experts. It increased by five times the safe intake level for BPA (known as the Tolerable Daily Intake or TDI). In July and October 2008, EFSA reviewed new studies and confirmed its position that BPA-based polycarbonate and epoxy food contact materials can continue to be safely used.
  • In January 2006, the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR, Bundesinstitut für Risikobewertung) stated: “The BfR does not recognize any health risk for babies that are fed from baby bottles made of polycarbonate.”
  • In 2005, the Japanese National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology released a comprehensive human health risk assessment report on BPA. The report concluded that “current exposure levels of BPA will not pose any unacceptable risk to human health.”