EU warns about the risks of bisphenol A

Last April, EFSA published a re-evaluation of the safety of BPA that significantly reduced the tolerable daily intake (TDI) established in its previous 2015 assessment. As a temporary arrangement, EFSA scientists identified a number of gaps and uncertainties in the data, which they undertook to re-evaluate when new data became available, in particular a two-year chronic study sponsored by the U.S. National Toxicology Program.

Following the input of the new scientific evidence evaluated, EFSA experts established 2 billionths of a gram per kilogram of body weight per day. The TDI is approximately 20,000 times lower than before. Thus, EFSA concludes that people of all age groups with medium and high exposure to BPA exceed the new TDI.

For this reason, EFSA’s scientific advice supports the decision of the European Commission and the EU Member States, which are responsible for setting limits on the amount of a chemical that can migrate from food packaging into food or introducing other specific restrictions to protect consumers.

Technical meetings are held with stakeholders, Member States and relevant international authorities, including the BfR and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, to discuss EFSA’s draft scientific opinion on the reassessment of public health risks related to the presence of BPA in foodstuffs.

EFSA launches a public consultation on its draft scientific opinion on the reassessment of public health risks related to the presence of BPA in foodstuffs. For this purpose, the governments of Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland appointed the experts who composed the protocol working group, while EFSA appointed four independent scientists.

Before being applied to the new bisphenol A (BPA) reassessment, the study assessment methodology described in the 2017 BPA-associated risk assessment protocol was tested in a selection of studies.

One of the main findings reveals that BPA could affect the immune system of animals, although the evidence collected is too sparse to draw conclusions regarding human health. However, EFSA experts reduced the tolerable daily intake level to 50 micrograms per kilogram of body weight per day.